I'll Defend You
by fanfictionisahobby
Summary: Male Diclonius are very rare and what is even rarer is a male Diclonius that has vectors and a couple of powers to boot. What happens when Dr. Kurama finds this rare specimen? How will things change? Warning: There are some gore parts in it but not many; however, these parts can be very horrible. And there is drama but you all should be expecting that from this anime.
1. Saving Nana

**A/N: Ok, just so it is clear, there is a reason why I'm doing the anime only. I watched this show recently and I know nothing of the manga of this series. This is just a redo of **_**Elfen Lied**_**. Please try not to shoot this fanfiction to death but I will take CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. **

**One last thing to know, I'm picking up where Nana is being ripped apart by Lucy. My character is a fourteen-year-old Diclonius male who is considered unique. Additionally, Nana is a normal-aging Diclonius and is thirteen in this novel. In other words, no Silpelite aging. It's too confusing.**

**Warning: I'm going to tear this anime apart, you have been warned.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Elfen Lied**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Dr. Kurama and his men were rushing toward the cemetery where he could hear his adopted daughter, Nana, screaming in pain. Panic and worry was shown all over his face. To his right was his secret operative, Hitoshi. They arrive in time to see the graveyard as a bloodied up mess. Poor Nana had tears streak down her face and her arms and legs laid in different parts of the cemetery. Standing in front of her was Nana's objective, Lucy.

Lucy began to talk, "You suffering? Does it hurt yet?" Lucy asked coldly and raised her hand to strike with her vectors. "Don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery."

Hitoshi drew his 8 mm handgun out of its holster and shot at Lucy. He nearly shot her across the face. She jumped back in surprise and looked over at the boy who almost shot her. Her face instantly warped into anger and she tried to attack him with her vectors but her vectors were blocked somehow.

"Why can't I attack you?" Lucy asked frustrated.

"You're not the only person with vectors." Hitoshi replied.

Dr. Kurama seemed uninterested with the conversation between the two and more interested with the well-being of his adopted daughter. "Nana?" He asked worriedly. He wasn't sure if she was still alive, especially with the area being drenched in blood.

"Papa!" Nana said weakly confirming that she was alive. Nana immediately latched a vector at Lucy which somehow disabled her temporarily.

Lucy jumped at the contact and was surprised at what just happened. She screamed, "My eyes!" She then looked at her hands with relief. Lucy was still in control and not Nyu. "Still there! What did you do?" She asked angrily.

"Permission to kill target, Dr. Kurama?" Hitoshi asked as he unsheathed his katana and raised it expertly.

"Negative, Hitoshi, you still need to focus on your main objective." Dr. Kurama said.

"Yes sir." Hitoshi replied raising his sword and returning it to its sheath that was on his back. The waist band for the katana was too large for his waist so Hitoshi would always strap it around the torso of his black ops jumper suit.

"As for you," Dr. Kurama said to Lucy. "This settles it." The rest of the men had finally managed to create a perimeter around Lucy and had their guns raised. "There's no way I can forgive you." Dr. Kurama adjusted his glasses and continued. "No way in hell."

"Looks like things are over for Number 7." One of the fellow scientists remarked. Dr. Kurama advanced toward Nana and Hitoshi advanced along with him. "Chief hang on!"

Dr. Kurama and Hitoshi ignored the man's pleas and got closer toward Nana, passing by Lucy. "What are they doing?" One of the soldiers asked.

"They're both suicidal!" The scientist exclaimed.

Dr. Kurama knelt down and picked up Nana, while Hitoshi squatted down and observed the stumps that used to be Nana's legs, then the stumps of her arms. Meanwhile, Nana cried out an apology "Papa, I'm so sorry. You gave me the strength of your neck and I got it all dirty."

"I told you I'd come. Why didn't you wait for me?" Dr. Kurama asked.

"Because, I'd thought you would be proud of me if I brought her back to you." Nana replied tearfully "But then…but then I couldn't do it. I'm so sorry, Papa." Tears fell from Dr. Kurama's eyes; he hated to see that his daughter had suffered for a rogue organization that he didn't even think was doing the right thing anymore.

"Papa is it?" Lucy said coldly. "Too bad your daughter is dead."

Hitoshi made a motion to grab his sword and wanted to strike at Lucy but Dr. Kurama placed a hand on the boy's arm. "Complete your main objective first. You'll have time to kill Lucy later. Nana needs you right now."

The boy nodded and said, "I can heal her. But she's losing a lot of blood. I'll have to give her some of mine."

Kurama gave a nod and Hitoshi then turned around toward Lucy and punched her leg. She fell with a gasp and he proceeded with hard punch to her face. Lucy looked angrily at Hitoshi and launched her vectors at him but this proved fruitless. Somehow the boy was protected by vectors of his own. "Consider yourself lucky, I would have killed you today." The tone in his voice was cold and insincere. "I may still kill you if everything is done quickly."

"Everyone take aim." The scientist said. All weapon were now focused on Lucy. She immediately got up and ran out of the cemetery using the headstones to escape faster.

Hitoshi turned toward the men. "I need someone to gather up her limbs."

The men stood there confused to who had command over the group. Their questions were answered when Kurama said, "Do it."

A newly recruited private replied, "Yes sir!" He began gathering up the poor girl's limbs and brought them over to Hitoshi, Nana, and Dr. Kurama.

"The rest of you after Lucy. Don't let her escape." The scientist said to the remaining men.

"Yes sir." They replied and ran after Lucy.

The scientist then looked over at Dr. Kurama and said, "Chief," in a sad tone of voice. The scientist knew that Nana was special to Dr. Kurama and thought that the effort to save Nana would most likely end in vain.

"Papa, I'm so sorry. I did something you didn't want me to. I'm useless now." Nana cried. Dr. Kurama held her with one arm and wiped her tears with another.

"Please don't talk. You are never useless to me. I love you like a daughter and there isn't anything that will change that." He looked at Hitoshi who had identified which leg goes where and his hand started to glow. Nana felt a jolt that became relief from where the stump was. She looked down and saw the boy was reconnecting her leg. But how?

"Papa?" She asked as Hitoshi finished reattaching her leg.

"Hitoshi has the power to reattach limbs and heal almost anything with his touch. He also has very strong vectors that can protect him from powerful attacks, like Lucy's. However, he has no offensive capabilities, he has to resort to a pistol and katana to inflict any damage." Dr. Kurama said as held Nana in a position so she could see Hitoshi's work

Hitoshi had finished as the glow disappeared from his hand and he looked at Nana. "Go ahead and perform some basic functions. I want to make sure that the nerves in your leg were put back correctly."

Nana moved her leg side-to-side and wiggled her toes. Everything was exact! She looked on amazed that he was able to do what he did. The private who didn't go off in pursuit of Lucy looked on equally amazed. "It works." Nana said weakly.

Dr. Kurama put a hand to Nana's head. She was getting cold due to the loss in blood. "We need to hurry." He then turned to the scientist and said, "Dr. Chuu, go get an I.V. from the first-aid kit from the chopper."

"Right away, chief." Dr. Chuu said shocked at what this new Diclonius was capable of, nonetheless, he ran for the supplies.

Hitoshi took the other leg and reconnected it repeating the same process with Nana to perform normal muscle control. Afterwards, he reconnected her arm that had fingers on it, then the one without fingers. He discarded the sliced off sleeves of her dress and asked her to perform muscle movement with the arms. Finally he reconnected her fingers one-by-one.

He finally finished and Dr. Kurama gave a genuine smile. "Thank you, you saved my daughter. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you."

"I hate to sound pessimistic, sir, but we still need get her temperature back to normal. However, you already have repaid me." Hitoshi replied. "I would have lost my mind at that psychotic institute if you hadn't been there for me."

"Papa, I'm really sleepy." Nana said tiredly to Dr. Kurama. "Can I sleep now?"

Dr. Kurama had forgotten that he was still holding her but he replied, "I'm sorry, sweetie, but if you sleep now you might slip into a coma that you may never wake from."

Nana frowned, "I wanted to make Papa proud of me but instead all I did was slow you down. I'm so sorry." She said to Hitoshi.

Hitoshi shook his head, "You were my main objective. Keeping you alive and okay was my mission and I'm sorry that I failed to make sure you were okay. But I will make retribution for it by keeping you alive." As Hitoshi said this Dr. Chuu returned with the empty I.V. "Hook me up." Hitoshi said to the man as he pulled up the sleeve of his black ops jumper.

"I don't know your or her blood type." Dr. Chuu replied. "This could end horribly for her if-"

Dr. Kurama interrupted Dr. Chuu and said, "We're wasting time. Hitoshi's blood type is O positive which means he is a universal donor."

Dr. Chuu gulped and said, "Yes chief." After proper preparation Dr. Chuu injected the I.V. into Hitoshi's arm and the bag started to expand with Hitoshi's blood. After the bag was filled the I.V. was injected in Nana's arm. She looked exhausted but the color of her face returned to normal as the bag emptied.

The men that went after Lucy returned empty-handed. To their surprise Dr. Kurama said, "Good, I would probably kill her for what she has done to Nana." Dr. Kurama said as he stroke Nana's hair.

Nana raised her hand and placed it comfortingly on Dr. Kurama's and said, "No papa, I don't want you to kill."

Dr. Kurama calmed down and looked at the bag as it emptied. He put his hand on her forehead and felt that she wasn't cold anymore. "Are you feeling alright?"

Nana gave a nod.

Dr. Kurama got up very slowly as he helped Nana get to her feet. At first, she was wobbly and threatened to fall but she soon was able to gain her balance. Dr. Kurama smiled and said, "There, very good job." She smiled at his remark. He then turned to Hitoshi and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think she is doing extremely well. If she's alright to stand, then she's alright to walk." Hitoshi replied being equally wobbly from giving a good portion of his blood to Nana.

Nana smiled and said, "I'm not useless anymore. May I please help you with the next mission?" Nana asked giving a begging face. "I promise I won't try and fight Lucy by myself ever again, please."

Dr. Kurama shook his head with a frown, "I'm sorry, Nana but I don't want you to return with me."

"No, no, no, no, no." Nana sobbed. "I'm sorry I failed you, please don't leave me." She hugged tightly to Dr. Kurama

"You never failed me, Nana. I just don't want put you in the cross-fire again." Dr. Kurama explained as he wrapped his arms around Nana and continued, "I love you and I promise I'll return but you need to promise to be safe and stay away from Lucy."

Nana nodded her head and the chopper flew toward their location Dr. Kurama took out his wallet and gave Nana eighty thousand yin. "I wish I could give you more than this." He explained. "However, it's all I have with me."

Nana took the money and nodded her head. She gave him another hug and sobbed, "I want you." Dr. Kurama hugged back for only a few seconds.

Nana understood this and proceeded to unwrap the tie that Dr. Kurama gave her and she extended it to him. "Here, I'm sorry that I got it dirty but I know you want it back."

Dr. Kurama took the tie but went ahead and tied it around Nana's head so it would fit better. "You keep it; this is my gift to you."

A tear slid down Nana's face as Dr. Chuu yelled, "Chief come on; we need to go." Hitoshi got onto the chopper while Dr. Kurama kissed Nana on the forehead as a sign of good-bye and then he got into the chopper. Dr. Kurama looked down at Nana as the chopper gained altitude.

Meanwhile, Nana looked up with tears coming down her face. She wiped the tears away and said, "I have to be strong; I can't cry not now."

Back at the institute, Hitoshi had went to Dr. Kurama's office to be hidden in a secret compartment. He waited for a long time, waiting for Dr. Kurama to return. Someone finally entered the office and opened the secret compartment to where the boy was hidden. Dr. Kurama stood in front of the boy. Hitoshi only had one thing on his mind, "I'm sorry sir."

"What for?" Dr. Kurama asked.

"I failed to protect Nana." Hitoshi said sadly.

"She's still alive because of you. Either way, your mission was successful." Dr. Kurama replied.

"Thank you sir." Hitoshi said somewhat relieved that the mission was successful. He then asked, "Sir, what do we do now? The men know of me and they will report that to Director Kakuzawa."

"I'm going to erase all files of my, yours, and my daughters' involvement. Then we will go see my daughter." Dr. Kurama said.

"Yes sir." Hitoshi replied. Dr. Kurama then got on his computer and started to delete his profile until the only thing that remained was his school records. He then deleted Nana's records, then Hitoshi's and established a false record of their existence on an official government website, but he wasn't done. Hitoshi looked on surprised as he clicked on a file that Hitoshi did not recognize. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, who is this?"

Dr. Kurama smiled and said, "This is Mariko, my biological daughter." He finished with deleting her file and created a false file of her existence. He then said, "Now we wait for them to use Number 35."

**A/N: Ok that ends this chapter. If you guys hate it, then I do apologize. I just wanted to do this based off the anime. Either way, I'll keep going with it. I will upload a chapter weekly or biweekly, depends on what I feel like.**

**Warning: There will be cliffhangers in the future and yes I will be mean about it. I just want a little fun, don't hate me.**


	2. Welcome to the Maple House

**A/N: Hi again. If you're still with me, this chapter is basically going to retell Nana's story of when she first went through the real world. This will be in Nana's perspective. I decided to release a new section of my story biweekly. I can't wait a week long without torturing you guys with this story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Elfen Lied**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Nana walked along the side walk, still flabbergasted by the boy who was able to reattach her limbs and also saddened that her papa left her. She felt very guilty that she had failed him and got both of his gifts dirty and torn apart. She then was hit with a sweet aroma of the smell of food. Her stomach growled to the smell and she simply stated, "Oh wow. That smells so good." She went up to the booth and said, "Excuse me. Excuse me sir." She asked the man who was cooking.

"Hello, how may I help…huh?" The man finally looked at Nana and was immediately uninterested with her. "What do you want?" The man asked coldly.

"Excuse me sir, can I have one?" Nana asked timidly.

"It'll be five hundred yin." The man replied.

"Wait, what?" Nana asked confused by the man's statement. "Five hundred yin?"

Nana looked at the paper that her papa gave her and she was about to give the man one of the papers until a couple of ladies cut in front of her and said, "Hi can I get a strawberry cream?"

"I'll have one too, chocolate cream." The other woman spoke up.

"Sure, that'll be no problem." The man said kindly to the woman. "That'll be five hundred yin each." The women gave the man two coins and he in turn gave them their food. "Thank you please come again."

"Wait, excuse me sir?" Nana said.

"Five hundred yin!" The man yelled at Nana being completely frustrated by her lack of knowledge. "If you don't got it, then get out of here! Beat it kid!"

Nana looked down sadly and left. She wasn't even sure why her papa gave her this useless paper when she couldn't do anything with it. She kept aimlessly walking until she saw a familiar landmark. It was the same landmark that she believed that she disappointed her papa and met the boy that saved her life, it was the cemetery. Somehow, she had made a complete loop. She headed inside and sat next to a tombstone where she leaned on it. A cold wind went by and she shivered. She brought her knees up to chest and wrapped her arms around her knees in an attempt to stay warm. "I really wish I had Papa right now." Tears formed in her eyes and she started to cry. "I don't know what to do without him. I want to see Papa; I feel so lonely. I miss him! Papa!"

Suddenly, Nana's crying was broken when she heard a small dog bark. She looked up and saw a small white dog coming up the steps along with a girl around Nana's age. "I'm sorry, my dog doesn't usually bark but tonight he's…" Shock and panic laced the young girls face when she saw Nana and she let out a surprised gasp.

Nana wiped away some tears and got up. She looked at the girl, "Is something wrong? You look pale." Nana asked concerned for the girl.

"That's right. It was just a dream. It's not like she could have grown new legs." The girl said to herself. "I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense. My name is Mayu." The girl said to Nana and she approached her.

"I'm Nana; it's nice to meet you." Nana said happily. She had finally found someone who was actually kind to her.

Mayu looked at Nana still unable to believe that Nana was so similar to the girl in her 'dream.' Mayu looked at Nana's horns and said, "Um…those horns?"

"Oh sorry, do they bother you?" Nana asked.

"That's not it at all." Mayu said.

"I understand." Nana stated bluntly and continued, "They're not normal."

"Hey wait, I think they're kind of cute." Mayu said to Nana

Nana's eyes lit up and she asked, "Really?" Mayu nodded happily. In response, Nana took hold of Mayu's hands and asked. "Really? For real?"

"Oh yes," Mayu replied.

Nana released Mayu's hands and blushed at the compliment. Almost no one has ever complimented her except for her papa. "To tell you the truth, I've always thought that I looked cute myself." Nana then lightly kicked a tombstone out of her rambunctiousness. Suddenly, Nana relaxed and asked somewhat timidly, "Hey, can I ask you a favor?"

What? What is it?" Mayu asked.

"Do you think…do you think you can be my friend?" Nana asked timidly with starry eyes. "My whole life, I have lived in this facility; I don't know anything about the outside world." Nana stated uncomfortably and stared down at the ground nervously. "I don't have a home. I don't have anything to eat, which is fine I suppose. It's just that things would be a lot easier if I had a friend."

Mayu approached Nana and took Nana's hands into her own and said, "If it helps, then yeah I'll be your friend."

"You will?" Nana exclaimed. Overcome with joy, Nana hugged Mayu and said, "Oh, thank you!"

"You're welcome." Mayu replied and returned the hug.

After letting go of Mayu, Nana took the paper that was still in her hand and said, "We might be able to use this to start a fire so we can stay warm."

Mayu was shocked at what Nana said and instantly grabbed Nana's arm and said, "No! That's money!"

"Oh it is?" Nana asked. Mayu releases Nana's arm and the two looked at the paper in Nana's hand. "Hey you know what?" Nana brightened up and continued. "We could use these scraps of paper to buy something to eat."

"Are you crazy? You can't waste it like that." Mayu exclaimed.

"Oh, I can't." Nana said completely lost on the concept of money. "So complicating."

Suddenly a cold breeze went by causing both girls to shiver. "Do you live somewhere around here? That way we can get out of the cold." Mayu asked.

Nana shook her head sadly. Mayu then said, "Well, I do live in a house a little ways from here. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you till now but I guess I got too caught up with talking to you."

"A house?" Suddenly Nana's stomach growled and she clutched it while blushing with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I really need to put a muzzle on this thing."

"It's alright you're hungry." Mayu replied and took Nana's hand. Mayu then headed out of the cemetery with her new friend and with the white dog, Wanta, in tow.

* * *

"Is this the house?" Nana asked as the two stood outside the door of the large house.

"Why yes, this used to be a restaurant but they had to close down." Mayu responded. Suddenly, the door opened and it revealed a college-aged man that looked surprised to see the two girls, Nana especially. "I-I'm back." Mayu said awkwardly.

Suddenly the man grabbed Nana by her arms and shook her somewhat violently. "Tell me why you have those horns on your head. Where did you come from? Who in the world are you?"

"Kouta stop!" Mayu exclaimed.

This seemed to stop the man and he said "Oh, I'm sorry."

"I made friends with her on my walk." Mayu explained. "I think she's really hungry. You won't mind if we give her some of the leftovers from dinner?"

"I don't mind, besides I got some questions for you." Kouta said.

"I don't want to be any trouble to you." Nana said "I mean you seemed shocked and I-"

Hey come on, you're no trouble at all." Kouta interrupted her. "I'm sorry I grabbed you and shook you like I did. Let me make it up to you by giving you something to eat." Nana's stomach growled loudly and she clutched it again and blushed heavily. "See, your body knows when it's hungry." Kouta said happily.

Mayu then took a hold of Nana's hand and said, "Yes, come on." They went inside the house and there in front of them were two people. Nana immediately was scared and frightened. One of the people in front of her looked exactly like Lucy.

"Nana, this is Yuka and Nyu." Kouta said and then looked at Yuka and Nyu and said, "Yuka, Nyu, this is Nana."

Nana's eyes widened with fear as she recalled the earlier events of the day and worse this time Papa and Hitoshi wouldn't be able to save her. Both Yuka and Nyu noticed Nana being afraid and Yuka asked, "Hey you alright?"

"No, not again, no!" Nana exclaimed. She then darted out of the house.

"Wait Nana!" Mayu exclaimed and chased after her. Kouta followed quickly behind.

Nana ran down the steps until she felt a hand grab her arm. "Hey calm down." Kouta said to the young girl. "What's wrong?"

Tears ran down Nana's face and she sobbed, "Not again, please not again. I already got ripped apart earlier today. I don't want that to happen again."

"What are you talking about?" Kouta said being confused.

Shock and realization hits Mayu and she said, "So what I saw wasn't a dream. Nyu really did hurt you."

Nana looked up surprised with her checks rosy from crying. She wiped her tears and she said, "You were the voice that I heard when I was battling Lucy."

"Lucy? Battling?" Kouta said being completely confused.

"But that had to be a dream." Mayu said. "I mean your leg was cut off but you're standing."

"It wasn't a dream, what you saw was real." Nana said. "The reason why I'm standing is because this nice boy, Hitoshi, and my papa saved me."

"Okay, you are going to need to explain this to me because I'm completely confused!" Kouta exclaimed.

Nana shook her head and said, "I don't think Papa would be happy if I just blurted out everything, I'm sorry. Besides, I never knew of this boy, Hitoshi, until today when he saved my life."

Kouta sighed and said, "Fine but there is a price for staying with us."

Nana looked up and gave him the few dollars that her papa left her. "You mean this."

Kouta looked surprised and said, "What? No, I was going to say that you should help out with chores. Everyone does chores around here, me, Yuka, Nyu, and even Mayu. That's all you got to do."

Nana stared down and recalled what her papa told in staying away from Lucy. But this was not Lucy. "I don't know. I really appreciate that you want to let me live with you but Lucy nearly killed me today and I just don't want to get hurt again."

Nana felt two comforting arms on her shoulders and she looked up to Kouta, "I don't know if Nyu would ever hurt anyone but she'll have to hurt me before she hurts you."

"Really?" Nana asked starry eye. "You would be willing to get hurt for me?"

"Of course," Mayu said happily. "It's what friends do for each other."

"That's right." Kouta said happily. "Hopefully, it won't come to anyone getting hurt but we're here for you either way."

Suddenly, Nana hugged Kouta tightly and cried into his chest. He stood stiff for a minute then wrapped his arms around the girl comfortingly.

* * *

They returned to the house to see Yuka and Nyu, Yuka asked somewhat concerned, "Is everything alright? What happened back there?"

"It's nothing. Nana was just hallucinating from hunger." Kouta lied.

"Oh okay. Anyway come on, we still have leftovers from dinner." Yuka replied waving her hand to go inside.

"I'm sorry." Nana said to Nyu. "I thought you were someone else but I was wrong and I'm sorry."

Suddenly Nyu gave her famous catch phrase and hugged Nana momentarily and smiled at her. "I think that's her way of forgiving you, Nana." Yuka said. "Besides, you're hungry so that doesn't help."

"Look on the bright side, it's better than being like Yuka when she's hungry." Kouta said playfully. "She's a grouch when she's hungry."

Yuka gave a glare and said, "One moment," to Nana and went over and punched Kouta in the stomach.

Kouta grunted in pain and said, "Ouch!" He fell to the ground and clutched his stomach.

"Okay, now we can go in." Yuka said to Nana. Nana gave a somewhat frightened nod and the two headed inside. Nyu followed being very interested by the new resident.

"Are you okay?" Mayu asked.

"Yeah, I'm just surprised by how hard she can punch. She hits as hard as a boy." Kouta replied as he stood up.

"You did kind of deserved that." Mayu said.

"I know." Kouta said. "I just like to push my luck that's all." Kouta smiled perceiving it as his little joke with Yuka and headed inside. However, Mayu did not think it was a joke and was worried that her newly gained guardians would separate and she'd be stuck in between a family feud. She pushed this thought behind her and went inside. That would be a topic for another day.

The next two days were pleasant at the Maple House with Kouta and Yuka looking after Nyu, Mayu, and Nana. Mayu and Nana's friendship grew stronger and they even would bathe together and talked to each other about the day. Mayu having the most to talk about since she was at school. Nana has seemed to settle into normal life quite well but everything would soon come crashing down around the third evening of being in the outside world…

**A/N: I'm just going to throw it out here right now because I know someone's going to ask. This fanfiction is NOT going to be a romantic relationship between Nana and Mayu. I do not care too much about Yuri. Update: Sorry guys, this fanfiction is way too bloody and there will be sexual themes, I have to raise the rating up to Mature.**


	3. Mariko and a Friend's Undying Love

**A/N: Alright, sorry if this is going to be confusing but I am switching among Nana's, Dr. Kurama's, and Hitoshi's perspectives throughout this fanfiction. Also, if someone knows how to make it so you can read M rated fanfiction, then PM me. I've got no idea how adjust the settings so I can read that material.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Elfen Lied**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

It was a day and a half since Dr. Kurama had left his adopted daughter to fend for herself. He and Hitoshi were waiting for the facility to use Mariko so Dr. Kurama could make his move to betray the horrible organization. However, anxiety was getting to him, the only thing he could think of was Nana and how had abandoned her. Hitoshi noticed this and said, "Sir, I really wish I could be two people so I could have looked out for you and Nana but beating yourself up for what happened isn't helping."

Dr. Kurama looked up still feeling quite depressed. "I know but I feel like I abandoned her."

"There are other humans out there that are like you, sir." Hitoshi stated. "Humans who are kind, loving, and more generous than what is normal."

Dr. Kurama smiled and said, "You might be right. Thank you Hitoshi."

"That's what I'm here for sir." Hitoshi said smiling back.

Dr. Kurama then looked at the screen and saw a few scientists heading for Number 35's containing cell. "Showtime." Dr. Kurama said and the two left the room and headed for the same direction.

Two soldiers guarded the entrance of Number 35's cell. Neither believing that guarding the outside would be significant. Suddenly a figure appeared down the hall. Both raised their guns and one of them said, "Hold it, who are you?" The figure advanced and revealed itself to be Dr. Kurama. "Dr. Kurama, sir, I'm sorry but even you are not allowed to go in there, sir."

A boy revealed himself from behind Dr. Kurama to the two men and they looked on horrified. The reports of the men that went with Dr. Kurama were true! Both men raised their guns and were going to shoot until the boy sliced one of them in half vertically. "Shit!" The other soldier exclaimed and fired but the bullets remained in the air and soon stopped rotating. They fell to the floor and Hitoshi sliced the man's leg in half to get him down to his level. The man screamed momentarily in pain but Hitoshi stopped his screams by slicing his head off.

Dr. Kurama opened the door to the control room where there were two scientists at the controls. Before they could take notice of the two, Hitoshi slashed at them with fatal wounds. They lay there dying, while Dr. Kurama looked out to see another scientist and the lead scientist Dr. Shirakawa were standing afar while one of the scientist was holding a young Diclonius that had long pink hair. Dr. Kurama watched on and knew of the scientist who was holding his daughter. The scientist was Saito.

Meanwhile…"Hi, sweetie, I'm your mommy." Saito said happily as she held the frail girl. The girl was quite strong considering that she has been restricted from moving within the machine for almost her whole life.

The girl, Mariko, looked up to Saito with a smile and said, "Hi mommy, I'm happy to see you." Mariko then frowned as she eyed the room and looked back up to Saito. "But where's daddy?"

Saito frowned and said, "I'm sorry sweetie but you don't have a daddy."

Mariko smiled and said, "But I do, he would always come and visit me and let me out of the thing." Mariko said referencing the thing as her cell. "He also removed some of these things that were inside of me thanks to that one guy."

Saito was shocked and confused and looked at Dr. Shirakawa who was equally confused. Suddenly, Dr. Kurama and Hitoshi walked out of the control room and were greeted with shocked faces from almost everyone. "Daddy!" Mariko exclaimed as she tried to get up but fell not to long after. She hit the floor with a thud and tears started to roll down from her eyes as she whimpered from the pain of hitting the floor.

"Mariko, I'll come to you." Dr. Kurama said kindly to his daughter. "You're not quite strong enough to walk efficiently yet."

"I don't think so, Dr. Kurama." The scientist said pulling out his gun and shot at Dr. Kurama but the bullet never hit its target and instead it stopped a couple feet from Kurama and stayed in midair. It dropped to the ground as the scientist looked at his gun as if it had a malfunction and exclaimed "What the heck?"

"That won't work." Hitoshi said as raised his gun at the unnamed scientist. He did his best to smile mischievously and said "But I think mine works."

Dr. Kurama reached Saito and Mariko and he crouched down and picked up his daughter. "You alright?" Dr. Kurama asked Mariko.

"I hurt my arm." Mariko whined. "But I'm okay now that you're here." She looked up and smiled at her father.

"That's my girl." Dr. Kurama said to Mariko he then looked up and said, "Saito, I want to thank you for taking care of my daughter."

"Dr. Kurama, I'm sorry about Nana, but is this really what you want?" Saito said. "If you betray this organization, they'll just hunt you down."

"It's better than watching them torture and kill a bunch of girls who never wanted any of this." Dr. Kurama replied as he got up from the ground. "You're more than welcome to join us."

Saito took a moment and thought about her options. For seven years, Saito has wanted to see Mariko but was she willing to sacrifice her career for the young girl? It didn't take long to reach a decision. "Mariko has become such a huge part of my life and I don't want to give that up. I'm coming."

"Thank you. Mariko will need a mother figure in her life." Dr. Kurama replied and he yelled to Hitoshi, "We need to leave Hitoshi, now."

"Yes sir." Hitoshi replied as he holstered his gun and ran towards the family.

"Quick seal all exits. Don't let them escape." Dr. Shirakawa said into a hand-held radio. Suddenly, the four door panels of the room opened up and the group was surrounded. "Surrender." Dr. Shirakawa ordered.

"Sir," Hitoshi said to Dr. Kurama. "I don't think I can take out all the guards through my martial arts skills alone and you know my policy of killing people in front of a child."

Dr. Kurama nodded and looked down at Mariko who was in his arms. "I need you to use your vectors."

"But daddy, I don't want to hurt anyone." Mariko exclaimed.

"I know but hurting them is better than killing them." Dr. Kurama explained. "And we're down to only those two options."

"Okay daddy." Mariko responded and she sent out her vectors to attack the men. Twenty-six men were slammed into the wall and grunted in pain; however none of them were killed or lost limbs which is typical of Diclonius attacks. Hitoshi looked on impressed by Mariko's self-control.

"Dammit!" The commander said. "Open fire!" The men started to fire their weapon but to no avail. Hitoshi was also using his vectors to protect the group.

Soon all of the men were knocked out cold. Dr. Shirakawa and the other scientist had made their escape in the struggle; they were going to tell the Director what happened. "Very good job, sweetie." Dr. Kurama said to Mariko. "Killing should never be an option for you." Mariko smiled at her father's praise and Dr. Kurama continued, "We don't have a lot of time. We need to get to one of the choppers."

"What about the bombs that are inside Mariko?" Saito asked worriedly.

"Hitoshi and I have already removed them." Dr. Kurama stated. "Hitoshi has a special ability to make objects and people intangible. But it requires a lot of concentration and it creates a lot of pain for him, and if he uses it for too long, he would die. I'll explain everything but first we need to get out of here."

Saito nodded and they headed down the hallway. A few of the soldiers tried to stop them but Mariko knocked them out with her vectors. They soon arrive at the landing strip where several guards were posted. "This is your last chance, Dr. Kurama surrender or be killed." Dr. Shirakawa ordered.

Mariko looked up to Dr. Kurama for confirmation to use her vectors. Dr. Kurama nodded and soon the men went flying. Their bullets were useless and all of them were knocked out in a short period of time. The group soon got on the helicopter except for Hitoshi. Dr. Kurama placed Mariko on Saito's lap while he started up their ride to freedom.

Hitoshi, on the other hand, went over to Dr. Shirakawa who was grunting from the pain and tried to get up. Hitoshi raised his pistol at her. "No, no, don't kill me, please." Dr. Shirakawa said while raising her hand defensively.

"The girl I like almost died because of you and this place." Hitoshi said coldly as his purple eyes narrowed with rage and anger going through him. "What happened to Nana is on your hands." He shot her in the head and holstered his gun. He took a deep breathe to calm himself down and went to get on the helicopter.

"That was a good call." Dr. Kurama said as he got the helicopter off the ground. "She would have only followed us." Dr. Kurama, then, headed for Kamakura while he told Saito of what has happened, how he found Hitoshi, and most importantly he told her that Nana was still alive.

* * *

Nyu had been sick for the whole day. Nana sat outside eating ice cream with Mayu. "I don't think I can stop, Mayu. It tastes so good." Nana exclaimed as she quickly put more ice cream in her mouth.

"You'd better slow down before..." Mayu began to explain until Nana whined and held her head. "Before you get a headache."

Suddenly, Nana felt something that she wasn't expecting. She could sense another Diclonius but this one was very powerful. Nana's worry soon subsided when she could feel the intentions of this new Diclonius. The Diclonius was almost like a mirror to Nana; this Diclonius was very harmless and didn't want to hurt anyone. However, she soon felt another Diclonius, close by and very familiar, it was Lucy.

"What's wrong?" Mayu asked concerned.

"Lucy." Nana said bluntly with shock and terror written all over her face.

The said girl in question came out of the Maple House. The two surprised girls jumped off of the patio and looked at Lucy.

"Nyu? It's good to see that you are better." Mayu said not knowing that she was talking to Lucy.

Lucy glared at Nana as Nana felt a cold chill go down her spine. "There's probably not a whole lot left of you for me to cut off?" Lucy asked coldly.

Nana became very angry and said. "Shut up!" It was Nana's sore spot and for good reason, not only did she endure immense pain that day but she believed that she failed her papa.

Lucy then tried to attack her with her vectors but Nana used her vectors to stay at a distance. "No, stop fighting!" Mayu exclaimed but neither paid attention to her.

* * *

In the middle of downtown Kamakura, Mariko, Saito, Hitoshi, and Dr. Kurama were walking toward the location of where Nana was. They had already landed the helicopter at the airport after getting the right clearance and giving the airport two hundred thousand yin for storage. Dr. Kurama also had an outfit for Mariko, with a purple dress and pink leggings and shoes. They now were trying to find Nana with Mariko's help. Despite being Diclonius, Hitoshi's ability to feel other Diclonius was very limited; he could only sense another Diclonius from two hundred feet away. "Oh no." Mariko exclaimed.

Dr. Kurama looked down at her and asked, "What's wrong?"

"There's another Diclonius and she's really mean and angry." Mariko explained. "She is going to hurt Nana." Mariko said sadly.

"I don't think so, not again." Hitoshi said angrily and started to run off.

"Hitoshi!" Dr. Kurama exclaimed.

"I know where I'm going." Hitoshi replied back and turned around. "I can sense them from here." Hitoshi then ran toward the house.

* * *

Nana was pushed down again and was breathing heavily. Lucy glared at her. "Is that it? You're too soft. Even after I sliced you into pieces, you still won't fight me with everything you got."

"I didn't want to fight you in the first place." Nana said tearfully. "I just wanted to make Papa proud of me by bringing you back but then I failed. And now Papa…" Kouta and Yuka ran outside the house and watched the scene unfold.

They looked on in horror as Kouta yelled, "Nyu don't!"

Lucy ignored him and said, "Too bad." Lucy raised her hand and was going to strike Nana.

"No!" Mayu exclaimed and she ran over, and she put herself in Lucy's line of sight. Suddenly Mayu felt a shock of pain. She fell backwards into Nana's arms, and she coughed out blood and her breathing became very rapid. Nana looked on in horror as she saw that her best friend had been split in half horizontally.

Lucy looked on in horror at her handy-work and gasped. Suddenly she changed back into Nyu and she ran over to her friend crying, "Nyu, Nyu!" Yuka screamed momentarily and also ran over while Kouta suffered at the memories of his sister and how she was killed.

However, none were as shocked as the boy who watched what happened after Lucy accidentally wounded Mayu. Hitoshi looked on surprised at Lucy's behavior. He dropped his katana out of disbelief and said, "She's…She's actually remorseful? But she's never been remorseful."

**A/N: Okay here is an explanation on what happened with some of the characters. Basically, since Dr. Kurama went and visited Mariko over the course of her whole life, Mariko is more compassionate and less angry and understands that killing is a bad thing, kind of like Nana. And as you can tell, Mayu's not in good shape. Will she survive? Well, the next chapter will have that information. Don't you just love cliffhangers!**


	4. A Family United

**A/N: And we're back if you hate cliffhangers sorry about your luck. This anime actually had quite a few cliffhangers. And if you haven't guessed it by now, Nana is my favorite character from the show. In almost every way, she reminds me of childhood favorite character, Aelita from **_**Code Lyoko**_**. **

**Warning: There will be father/daughter cuddling in this chapter. It is not meant to be sexual so don't take it the wrong way.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Elfen Lied**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

"Mayu, Mayu, why?" Nana said tearfully.

"What happened?" Yuka asked equally tearful.

"I knew I shouldn't have stayed, now my best friend is going to die." Nana said. "It's all my fault."

"It…It's not…..you're fault." Mayu said breathing very heavily. "I-I-I wanted…..you to stay." She continued struggling to breathe now.

"Nyu." Nyu said tearfully as if she tried to apologize.

Yuka wiped her eyes and looked over to the other side of the yard and spotted a boy. "Quick call an ambulances!" Yuka exclaimed waving her arm at the boy. "Hurry!"

Hitoshi immediately regained focus and ran toward the girls. Nana immediately recognized him. "Hitoshi? Can you please save Mayu?" Nana begged tearfully.

"I will do my best." Hitoshi replied and he crouched down. "Just keep her awake." Hitoshi said and he extends both hands over the Mayu's upper and lower halves of her body. His hands started to glow with energy that suddenly bursted into light. Nana, Nyu, and Yuka look on in amazement as the two halves of Mayu's body started to reconnect. Eventually, the boy finished and Mayu was back to normal, albeit with less blood in her system. Hitoshi's hands stopped glowing and he breathed somewhat heavily placing his hands on his thighs (he has done this before but it is very taxing on his own body but not as much as his intangible ability).

"Mayu?" Nana asked still somewhat tearful.

Mayu looked at Nana and smiled, "I think I'll be okay."

"I'm so sorry!" Nana cried to her friend as she hugged her tightly.

"It's alright." Mayu said happily as she returned the hug. "I'm okay now."

"I'm glad you're okay." Yuka said happily as she rubbed Mayu's back comfortingly.

Hitoshi had finally regained his composure and was about to say something until he heard, "Nyu!" Nyu was hugging him as a thank you for saving Mayu. Hitoshi was surprised and stiffened awkwardly.

"I think Nyu is really thankful for saving her friend." Yuka said happily to Hitoshi. "I know I am." Mayu and Nana separated from their hug and looked at the boy and smiled.

"Nyu?" Hitoshi asked confused.

"Yeah, I thought she was Lucy at first too but she's not." Nana said. "She's really nice. By the way, thank you so much for saving my life the other day and for saving Mayu's tonight."

"Yeah I wouldn't be alive without you tonight. Thank you so much." Mayu said tiredly at the boy.

"Don't mention it." Hitoshi said and he then turned his full attention to Mayu and said, "Go ahead and perform some basic functions. I want to make sure that I did reconnect your nerves correctly."

Mayu nodded tiredly and moved her legs from side-to-side then after Yuka removed her shoes and socks, she wiggled her toes. She looked up to Hitoshi and smiled, "Everything works. I'm feeling tired so I think I'm going to go to bed." Mayu started to get up but Hitoshi stopped her and shook his head.

"No, let us help you. Don't push yourself." Hitoshi said. He then directed his attention to Yuka. "Do you know her blood-type?"

"Yeah I think it's A positive." Yuka replied.

"You're a universal donor. Would you mind donating again?" Nana asked.

"I don't mind but we run the risk of her becoming Diclonius as well if I become a blood donor to her. So in a way, I'm a universal donor among Diclonius." Hitoshi said as he got up.

"You know, I think Kouta is a universal donor." Yuka said staring over at the man who was in all honesty dazed.

"Good, Dr. Kurama probably grabbed an I.V. while we escaped." Hitoshi said. However, everyone seemed distracted as they saw three new figures coming onto the yard. Everyone, except Mayu, got up and watched as one of the figures raise a gun at Nyu and fired, but thankfully, Hitoshi stopped the bullet with his vectors. "Dr. Kurama, it's not Lucy."

Dr. Kurama walked out into opening. "What are you talking about? That most certainly-"

"Wait, daddy." Mariko said somewhat surprised. "He's right, I don't sense Lucy; I don't sense anything."

Dr. Kurama lowered his weapon which was the opening that Nana needed to run over to him and hug him. "Papa, I'm so sorry." Nana cried.

Dr. Kurama hugged her back and replied, "It's okay; as long as you're safe and okay, everything is fine." Kurama lets go of Nana and he then turned his attention to Hitoshi and asked, "What happened?"

"This girl was sliced in half but I was able to reattach the upper and lower halves of her body." Hitoshi stated bluntly while pointing at Mayu.

Dr. Kurama walked over to Mayu and said, "Are you okay?" Mayu nodded tiredly to him and then he asked, "How about we get you into your bed so you can get to sleep and I can get an I.V. in?"Mayu nodded again and Dr. Kurama picked her up. He then directed his attention to Yuka. "Can you show me where she sleeps, then we can get her hooked up to an I.V."

"Yeah this way." Yuka said. They start towards the door and Yuka shook Kouta and said, "Kouta, you okay?"

"Are you a universal donor?" Dr. Kurama asked while Mayu started to fall asleep but Dr. Kurama wouldn't allow it until she had a pint of blood back in her system so he shook her awake. She opened her eyes and glared at the man carrying her but Dr. Kurama knew that she was just tired. "She could use some of your blood, otherwise, she might slip into a permanent comma."

"Yeah, sure I…" Kouta said distantly. He suddenly shook his head and said, "Let's go." The three of them went inside the house and Nyu decided to go to bed as well, leaving Saito, Nana, and Mariko to talk. Hitoshi went over and grabbed his sword and sheathed it. He also went into the house and claimed the living room sofa as his sleeping quarters for the evening

Nana felt miserable. She believes that she almost got her best friend killed. She was lost in thought until she felt a small and frail figure hug her. Nana looked down and saw it was Mariko but Nana didn't know who Mariko was until, "It's nice to meet you, older sister." Mariko said happily. Nana smiled and got down to Mariko's level. Mariko used Nana's shoulder so she could stand somewhat properly. "I'm sorry that I have to use you like a crutch but I can't stand well." Mariko said sadly.

Nana frowned and said, "It's alright, you are kind of frail."

Saito approached the two girls and said, "Nana, Mariko is your papa's biological daughter. She has been inside a containing cell for the majority of her life. Thankfully, among, me, your papa, and Hitoshi assisting her, Mariko is doing a lot better than what she could be."

Nana nodded understandingly and picked up Mariko so that the young girl wouldn't be forced to stand. But one question plagued Nana. "Why did you left Saito?" Nana asked. "I know you enjoyed your job at the facility, won't you miss it?"

Saito immediately shook her head and said, "You, Mariko, and the rest of the girls are the only reasons why I enjoyed that job. In fact, Mariko has come to call me 'mom' and that is why I really enjoyed it. For seven years, I waited to see my little girl." Saito said rubbing Mariko's back. "And now here she is." Mariko smiled in response and also yawned as a sign that she was tired.

Nana frowned and looked down. Saito noticed this and asked, "What's wrong, Nana?"

Nana looked up and blushed, "You, papa, and Mariko are a family. You won't mind if I can be a part of your family, right? I've always wanted a mama and you were like a mama anytime you would come and visit me."

"Of course, you can call me mama." Saito said happily. Nana immediately hugged Saito as a form of thank you. As the two separated, Nana noticed that Mariko had fallen asleep in her arm. Nana smiled along with Saito. "Well, she's not too hard to put to sleep." Saito said happily.

Dr. Kurama came out of the house and smiled. He watched as the most important people of his life socialized. He approached them and said, "Good news, Mayu is going to be okay. She's sleeping right now with Kouta nearby. Yuka was able to change Mayu out of her bloody and torn clothes and into her pajamas. They also gave us some rooms for tonight."

"Wait, where's Hitoshi?" Saito asked.

"He's already made himself comfortable on the living room sofa." Dr. Kurama said with a chuckle. Nana and Saito both chuckled at what they thought he looked like. He then focused on Saito, "You won't mind sleeping with Mariko, tonight?"

"Of course I don't mind." Saito said "Come on Nana." They go inside with Dr. Kurama leading the way to the bedroom. There Saito pulled back the covers, allowing Nana to lay Mariko down. Meanwhile, Dr. Kurama kissed Saito good night and both Nana and Dr. Kurama left the room.

"I'm sorry that I left you." Dr. Kurama said as he and Nana walked down the dark hallway. "I had to get Mariko out of there but there wasn't a minute that went by that I didn't think about you."

Suddenly, Dr. Kurama felt a smaller body hug him and it was Nana. "I'm glad you're back." Nana said. Dr. Kurama returned the hug and they stood there for a while.

They separated and Dr. Kurama got down to Nana's eye level and kissed her forehead and said, "Good night Nana; I love you."

Nana smiled and said, "I love you too, papa." They both went to their bedrooms and changed into their pajamas for the night.

Unfortunately, both would be forced to endure nightmares that night. Dr. Kurama went to the living room and was going to sit on the sofa after enduring another nightmare where he lost Nana. He discovered that it wouldn't be possible since Hitoshi was snoring on the ground in front of the sofa. Dr. Kurama chuckled, "Someone is going to wake up with a bad back in the morning." Instead, he walked over to the chair and sat down while stressfully pinching his nose.

He never noticed that someone else was in the room until he saw something from the corner of his eye. He looked and saw Nana standing a few feet from him wearing a blue long sleeve shirt and pink pajama pants as her sleeping outfit. "Nana, honey, what are you doing awake?" Dr. Kurama asked concerned.

"Can I sleep with you?" Nana asked. "I'm having a lot of nightmares."

"You and I both." Dr. Kurama replied. "You don't ever have to ask for permission for that. You're not a test subject anymore, you're my daughter."

Nana smiled and climbed on top of Dr. Kurama's lap her legs dangled from one of the armrest and she leaned the upper half of her body onto his. Dr. Kurama was surprised but his smile remained when he saw his daughter smile up at him and said, "Good night." Dr. Kurama wrapped his arms protectively around her and replied with, "Good night." He remembered the last time he held Nana and a cold chill ran down his spine and his arms tightened around Nana. Soon, he relaxed and he tried to forget the image of the cemetery.

* * *

Close to noon, the residents of the Maple House had now gathered at the table to enjoy breakfast that was prepared by Dr. Kurama, Saito, and Yuka. They have all slept in from exhaustion from the earlier events of last night. Nyu was the exception and she worked on the broken clock as everyone rested. The breakfast table was shrouded by awkward silence, however they still enjoyed their meal. Then Dr. Kurama noticed something, "Where's Hitoshi?"

"Right here." Hitoshi said entering the room with Mayu who looked a lot better than what she looked like last night. "She wouldn't let me leave unless I helped her to the table." Hitoshi said sarcastically.

"Mayu, you shouldn't be up and around yet; I mean with last night-" Kouta started.

"I'm fine, besides who do you think is going to walk Wanta?" Mayu said.

Hitoshi smiled and then said to Mayu, "You can walk but don't overdo it, know your limits.

Mayu nodded and smiled back. "Okay and thank you again for saving my life."

"You don't need to thank me; I'm just glad I was able to get to you in time." Hitoshi replied. They both sat down to the remaining two seats in the room and enjoyed the meal. Afterwards, everyone changed out of their pajamas and into their normal clothes. Hitoshi, of course, had to borrow an old pair of jeans and a black long sleeve shirt from Kouta to wear.

Since it was Saturday, Mayu didn't have to go to school and spent the day being with Nana and Mariko. "Hi, little creature," Nana said happily. "I'm put in charge of feeding you so here you go." Nana poured the bowl with dog food until Mayu said, "Okay, I think that's enough."

"He's so cute." Mariko said happily as Wanta started to eat from the overflowing food bowl.

Meanwhile, Hitoshi sat down and watched the group of girls and blushed as he stared over at Nana who was smiling at her friends. He shook his head and said, "Come on, be professional, you can't have feelings for her."

"You know it's not normal to talk to yourself." Yuka said as she plopped down next to the boy.

Hitoshi jumped a bit but settled down and sighed. "I know I'm just conflicted, you know."

"You like Nana, don't you?" Yuka asked bluntly.

"I do. When Lucy hurt her, all that was going through my body was rage, anger, hurt. I wish she would have never went through that pain. And now, I feel so nervous when I'm around her." Hitoshi said blushing.

"Well, ask her out on a date if you like her so much." Yuka offered to the boy.

"I wish it was that simple. I have to be professional which means I can't go out with her." Hitoshi said. "Besides, what factors would influence her to like me? She's beautiful, kind, and probably the most wonderful person that I've ever met."

"You saved her life and her best friend's life and you also got Mariko, Saito, and me here safely." Dr. Kurama said surprising both the teen and the young woman. "She would be happy to get to know you more." He continued smiling at Hitoshi.

"You think?" Hitoshi asked.

"He's right, along with seeing Dr. Kurama again, Nana wanted to see you and thank you for saving her life the day you two met. She also mentioned that she wants to get to know you better during the two days that she has been here." Yuka said.

Hitoshi smiled in response and turned to Dr. Kurama and asked, "You won't mind if I ask your daughter out sir?"

"I don't mind at all. You've helped me out so much in the past, it would be the least I can do." Dr. Kurama said in response.

"Thank you, both of you." Hitoshi said and he got up and headed toward the group of girls who were watching Wanta eat. He smiled as he tried to think of the right way to ask Nana to go out with him for a date.

**A/N: Alright, next chapter will be a dating chapter between Hitoshi and Nana. So what could go wrong? (Evil Grin) How about everything!**


	5. Our First Date?

**A/N: This chapter is going to be a bit longer than the others.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Elfen Lied**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Hitoshi approached the girls still feeling nervous. He finally reached them and he said, "Can I speak to Nana in private?"

"Oh, um sure." Nana said. She then directed her attention to her sister and Mayu and said, "I'll be right back." The two went over to the patio and Nana asked, "So what did you want to talk about?"

Hitoshi rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably and asked, "Would you like to go out on a date with me tonight?"

Nana stared at him blankly for a second and smiled. She took his hands into hers and she asked excitedly, "You really want to take me out on a date? Oh, what am I going to wear? It'll be my first date."

Hitoshi smiled and said, "What'll I wear? All I have is that black ops jumper."

"I guess we both have to get ready." Nana said happily.

"I'll come and get you at six and we can go down to the local restaurant." Hitoshi said.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Nana replied cheerfully. "See you then." Nana then left to rejoin her sister and Mayu.

"What did Hitoshi want?" Mariko asked while playing with Wanta.

Nana didn't respond and instead was acting as though she was preoccupied with something. She stared at the ground blushing heavily.

"Nana?" Mayu asked waving her hand in front of Nana's face.

"I'm sorry, what?" Nana asked as she shook her head out of her daze.

"Mariko asked what Hitoshi wanted." Mayu said.

"Oh um…"Nana hesitated which made both of the girls look at her. Nana took a breathe to relax and said, "Hitoshi asked me out on a date."

"That's wonderful!" Mayu exclaimed. "Oh come on, we need to go shopping." Mayu continued as she got up and dragged Nana off the ground. Mariko who was getting better at walking around thanks to her new diet got up and unsteadily followed the two girls.

Nana finally stopped her friend and said, "Hold on, we don't even have money to buy any new clothes."

"Oh that's right; I forgot." Mayu said somewhat solemnly. "Well you can't just wear that black dress that your papa gave you since it's all torn and bloody."

The three girls then noticed Dr. Kurama approaching them, "Here you go." He offered some money to Nana.

"Papa?" Nana asked questioningly.

"It's to buy yourself a new dress." Dr. Kurama said happily.

"But papa how did you know…?" Nana asked completely lost in words.

"A father knows these things." Dr. Kurama said. "Have a good time. Make sure that you keep a hold of Mariko's hand while on the side walk and crossing the street. Afternoons can get crazy in Kamakura."

"Okay papa and thank you." Nana said in response and hugged him goodbye followed by Mariko and the three went out to the local clothing store.

* * *

Kouta watched on in amazement as Nyu continued her undying struggle to fix the clock that is in the foyer. Hitoshi entered the room and said, "Hey Kouta."

"Hey, what's going on?" Kouta asked as he diverted his attention to Hitoshi.

"You happen to have a dress shirt and a pair of khakis?" Hitoshi asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Kouta replied as he got up and walked towards the stairs. "What do you need khakis and a dress shirt for?"

Kouta and Hitoshi walked up the stairs and Hitoshi replied, "I'm going out on a date."

Kouta's eyes widened and he asked, "Who are you going out with?"

"Nana," Hitoshi replied as they reached the door.

"Oh okay." Kouta said as he breathed a sigh of relief. He looked through one of the drawers and succeeded in finding a nice pair of khakis and a dress shirt. "Here you go."

"Thanks Kouta." Hitoshi replied.

"Do you have a plan for tonight?" Kouta asked as he went over to his toiletries cabinet looking for something.

"Yeah, I was going to go to a restaurant and she and I will have dinner." Hitoshi replied.

"Well doesn't that just sound like a snore's fest?" Kouta replied. "Think about something other than getting a bit to eat or she won't be with you for long." He then pulled out a small glass flask which held a blue liquid.

"What did you have in mind?" Hitoshi asked while crossing his arms over his chest.

"I have an idea…and take this, only use a small amount though." Kouta said handing the glass flask to Hitoshi. "It's colon; it smells good but it's very overpowering."

Hitoshi accepted the flask and replied, "Thanks Kouta." Kouta then explains what Hitoshi should do after dinner.

* * *

Mayu stood outside the dressing room somewhat annoyed that the last three dresses didn't look nice on Nana. However Mariko was excited to see the next dress that Mayu had selected. Mayu crossed her fingers hoping this time that Nana would look nice.

Nana finally stepped out of the dressing room wearing a nice pink dress with a matching thin white sweater. Both, Mayu and Mariko squealed in delight. "Nana, you look so beautiful." Mayu squealed and put her in front of a mirror.

"It's perfect!" Mariko exclaimed.

Nana looked at herself in the mirror and smiled seeing that the dress looked very nice. "Thanks, I'm sorry it took so long to find the right dress." Nana apologized to her friend and sister.

"Well, we had to make sure that you looked nice for your date." Mayu said. "Go ahead and change out of it and we'll pay for it." Nana nodded and went to change out of her dress. She met up with Mayu at the register and paid for the dress and matching sweater and they headed out.

They walked towards home but Nana could feel Mariko was slowing down. "Hold up." Nana said to Mayu. "Can you hold this?" Nana asked Mayu while extending the bag that was holding her dress.

"Yeah sure." Mayu said taking the bag. Nana then turned around and got down to Mariko's eye level. Mariko looked tiredly at Nana and Nana asked, "You tired?" Mariko nodded and Nana then asked, "You want me to carry you back home?"

Mariko looked remorseful and asked, "You won't mind?"

"Not at all," Nana replied. "You walked a lot today." Nana then picked up Mariko and the two girls continued down the road, during the walk home Mariko fell asleep while Nana was carrying her. The three arrive home; Mayu puts Nana's newly received dress in Nana's closet, while Nana puts Mariko in her bed so she could sleep and returns the remaining money to Dr. Kurama. "Thanks papa." Nana said.

"You're welcome, sweetie." Dr. Kurama replied. "I hope enjoy tonight." Nana sent an appreciative smile toward Dr. Kurama.

* * *

It finally turns six and both Nana and Hitoshi are nervous. Hitoshi is now outside Nana's room and takes a deep breathe in and out and knocks on the door. "Coming." Hitoshi could hear Nana say. A couple minutes later, Hitoshi looks completely flabbergasted as he looks at Nana. However, Nana is also flabbergasted while looking at Hitoshi.

Hitoshi was finally able to talk again and said, "You look beautiful."

Nana blushed and said, "Thanks you look handsome."

"Thanks." Hitoshi replied blushing just as much.

"Oh for Pete's sake, I hope you two aren't just going to gawk at each other as a first date." The two heard Yuka say. Yuka stood near the end of the hallway with a somewhat disappointed look.

"Oh yeah, I have reservations at the local restaurant." Hitoshi said. "You ready?" Hitoshi offered his elbow.

"You bet." Nana said as she wrapped her elbow around his.

"Aww…cutest couple ever!" Yuka exclaimed as the two went down the stairs.

They both blushed but their punishment had only begun. Yuka was the least of their worries. Downstairs, Dr. Kurama, Saito, and Kouta waited for them. All of them had playful smirks.

Hitoshi looked on intimidated and said, "This doesn't look good." He was right.

Kouta was the first to speak, "Alright you two, behave. I don't want to hear about that restaurant kicking you two out and blacklisting everyone in the house."

"Now Hitoshi, I am willing to let you go out on a date with my daughter but that doesn't mean you can have sexual intercourse with her." Dr. Kurama said as the two teens ran for the door.

"Nana, sweetie, make sure you have some tampons in your purse, just in case." Saito said. The two teens finally ran out of the house with both of their faces red as cherries.

"That settles it, we need new roommates!" Hitoshi exclaimed as he leaned against the door.

Nana couldn't help but laugh and said, "Yeah, we do."

At the restaurant, Nana and Hitoshi shared a hot dish of rice and fish and both talked about what they liked and disliked which wasn't much. Overall the meal was not what the two expected. Their experiences in the new world were limited and neither wanted to talk about what happened at the facility.

As they finished their meal a couple of men approached their table and the supposed leader said, "What are you freaks doing in my restaurant."

Both of the teens figured it would be better to ignore the men so the leader's accomplice got closer to Hitoshi. "Boy, did you hear, Youlign, he asked what you and your freak girlfriend are doing in our restaurant."

"Yeah I heard him and I do believe that this establishment is a public restaurant so she and I have every right to be here as much as you two." Hitoshi replied with a matter-of-factly tone.

"Oh so you think?" The leader said pulling out a switchblade. "If I were you, I'd choose my next set of words carefully."

Hitoshi clenched his fist but before he could throw a punch at either of the men, Nana put her hand on his fist and said, "Hey we're done eating; let's just leave." She then waved her arm to the waiter and said, "Waiter, check please."

"Who said anything about you two leaving?" The leader asked putting the knife to Nana's throat.

"Get away from her!" Hitoshi exclaimed.

"That's it; I'm calling the police!" The waiter exclaimed and he ran into the office.

"I don't think so." The accomplice said throwing a punch at Hitoshi. Hitoshi ducked underneath it and kicked his attacker's leg to get him to his level. Hitoshi then punched the man as hard as he could and knocked him out.

"Shit!" The leader exclaimed while he kept the knife to Nana's throat. Nana whimpered as she felt the cold steel come closer.

Suddenly, one of the bystanders smashed a chair over the leader's head which distracted him long enough for Nana to get away from him. The leader immediately turned around and tried to stab the bystander, but Hitoshi ran up kicked the leader's leg making him fall.

The leader angrily tried to slash at Hitoshi but Hitoshi grabbed the leader's arm and twisted the leader's wrist. The leader cried in pain and dropped the knife. Hitoshi then kneed the man's chin. A few seconds went by as Hitoshi caught his breathe and said to the bystander, "Thanks for the help."

"Yeah, no problem." The bystander said.

Hitoshi turned his attention to Nana who ran to him and hugged him for comfort. Hitoshi hugged back and asked, "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you did he?"

She let go and shook her head no. The waiter then came out and saw the devastation. He stood there in shock at the two teens and the bystander. Nana was the first to speak, "Sorry about the ruckus. Could we get our check please?"

The waiter gulped and handed them the check with a shaky hand. Hitoshi left two thousand yin for the meal and as the tip. The bystander told the two that he would explain the situation to the police since both Hitoshi and Nana were just kids. The two then left the restaurant and walked back towards home. Hitoshi was extremely frustrated and angrily said, "That's it." He grabbed Nana's hand and started heading away from home. "Come on, the night's not over yet."

"What are you doing?" Nana asked as she tried to keep up with the boy.

"Let's make some memories that aren't horrible to recall upon." Hitoshi said as he turned around to look at Nana.

"Well, what do you want us to do?" Nana asked.

"Let's go down to the beach." Hitoshi said.

Despite the fact that the beach looked horrible and was littered in trash, Nana nodded her head in agreement. They had to come back with something exciting about their date. Plus, it couldn't get ruined at the beach, right?

Nana looked towards the ocean to where the sunset was and it actually didn't look bad. She smiled at the beautiful sunset and stared at it for a while. She never noticed that Hitoshi was heading towards the water and put his arm in the water and splashed it at Nana. Unfortunately, Nana turned around at the last moment and was hit by the water in what looked to be face.

She covered her face and backed away a bit. "Oh shit. I'm sorry I didn't mean to splash you in the face. I was going to splash you on the back." Hitoshi explained. "Are you alright?"

Suddenly, Nana took her hands out of her face and pushed Hitoshi into the water. "I am now." Nana said with a mischievous smile.

Hitoshi laughed and said, "Oh, deceit, I like that." He then splashed her and the two started to go into a splashing contest and succeeded in avoiding each other's faces.

After the splashing contest, they both stripped down to their undergarments and sat down back-to-back. "Hitoshi?" Nana said. "Thank you for tonight; it was fun."

Hitoshi blushed and said, "Anything for you."

Nana blushed and then a thought came to mind. "Hitoshi, are you still angry at what Lucy did?"

"Yes." Hitoshi replied bluntly. "As soon as Kakuzawa is dead, I'm going to kill Lucy so she can't hurt anyone ever again."

"I know you're mad at what she did to me but please don't kill her." Nana replied.

"I'll never forgive her for what she did to you." Hitoshi said coldly.

Nana was about to speak when they heard a man yell, "Hey you two." Hitoshi and Nana looked over to see a man with a handgun raised at them. "Alright, where's that crazy bitch? You have to be friends with her." The man asked.

Hitoshi sighed and said, "He must mean Lucy."

"Say that again. I couldn't quite hear you." The man said.

"We don't know what you're talking about." Nana shouted back. The man's face twisted in anger and he shot at Nana. However, the bullet was suspended in midair about a couple inches from Nana's face.

"What?" The man exclaimed surprised by the fact that the bullet was stopped.

Hitoshi looked at Nana and said, "I'm not sure what gun he's using but it's strong." The bullet dropped to the ground.

"But how?" The man exclaimed. "That bullet was a .50 Action Express tungsten bullet."

"Trust me, you don't want to go after Lucy." Nana shouted at the man. "She'll just rip you apart."

"Newsflash, she already has ripped me apart." The man indicated to his arm. "And you know where she is?"

Hitoshi sighed and said, "What hope do you have in killing Lucy if you couldn't before?"

The man sighed and growled in anger. He hated to admit it but he knew the kid was right. Additionally, if the kid was able to stop his bullet in midair, what would make Lucy any different? "Fine but next time I see her, she's dead." The man then left the two teens.

They stared at each other. "What was that about?" Nana asked.

"Apparently, you weren't the first person that Lucy mutilated in this town up to recent." Hitoshi replied. Nana shivered at the memory of what happened and Hitoshi replied, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that."

Nana then said, "Don't worry about it." A cold breeze went by and the two felt it. "Let's get our clothes on and head back." Nana said getting up.

"Yeah." Hitoshi replied as they both went toward their clothes.

They got their clothes back on and headed to the house. On the way, Nana leaned herself partially on Hitoshi as they walked. Hitoshi smiled and wrapped his arm around her comfortingly.

They returned to the house and both saw Saito and Mayu on the sofa. "So how was it?" Saito asked.

"It was wonderful." Nana replied. She then noticed that Mayu was sleeping on Saito's side in her pajamas. "How is she?"

Saito frowned and tears came to her eyes, "Has Mayu ever told you anything about her past by any chance?"

"No why?" Nana asked concerned.

"She told me that she had a nightmare about her step-father coming back and taking her with him." Saito said as she stroke Mayu's hair. "Her step-father sexually abused her. That's why she left home so she could get away from him."

"I-She never told me. I never knew." Nana said sadly.

"We're going to have to tell Kouta and Yuka." Hitoshi said. "They deserve to know since they have taken it upon themselves to become Mayu's legal guardians."

Saito nodded and said, "You're right but they're both in bed now, which is where you two should be." Saito continued as she adjusted her body so that Mayu was now in her arms. Saito proceeded to carry Mayu to her room and Hitoshi escorted Nana up to her room.

Nana opened the door and turned to Hitoshi and said, "I had a wonderful time."

"I did too." Hitoshi replied and kissed Nana. Nana returned the kiss and they stayed lip-lock for a couple more seconds.

They separated and Nana said, "Good night."

"Good night." Hitoshi replied smiling and he headed to his new room.

Nana blushed as she shut her door. She leaned against it for a couple of seconds but then proceeded to her bed and face-planted it after a long day. She slowly fell asleep being conflicted of whether to be happy that she just went on her first date or if she should be sad that her best friend went through such a horrible experience.


	6. Celebration and Remorse

**A/N: I jump around quite a bit in this section of the story. Sorry if it seems choppy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Elfen Lied**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Hitoshi sat at the table with Nana by his side. Yuka and Kouta sat across from the two completely dumbfounded. Yuka had tears in her eyes and Kouta looked down completely overwhelmed.

"How-Why would she never tell us this?" Yuka sobbed. "Mayu knows she can come to us for anything."

"It makes sense." Kouta said sadly. "Since Mayu's mother gave her up without a second's thought."

Nana looked down equally saddened. "What do we do?"

"I hate to say it but you are going to have to confront her about it but maybe at the end of today." Hitoshi said to Kouta and Yuka.

"Why can't we ask her now?" Kouta asked.

Both Hitoshi and Nana smiled and Nana replied, "Today is Mariko's birthday. She is eight years old today."

"What?" Yuka exclaimed. "You two never said a word about this!"

"We just found out this morning." Hitoshi said. "Besides all Mariko wants is to spend the day at the zoo with friends and family."

"Wait, no presents?" Kouta asked perplexed.

Nana shrugged and said, "Yeah, Papa and Mama said she's just happy that she has family and friends this year."

"Think about it from her point of view, your birthday comes around for the first seven years and your present is staying inside the same cell you've been in all your life with only three people to wish you happy birthday." Hitoshi said sadly.

"Yeah that can't be easy." Kouta said.

Suddenly the door opens and Mariko goes over and hugs Nana exclaiming, "I'm eight years old today, Nana."

"So I heard." Nana replied happily and returns the hug.

"I hope everyone is okay about going to the zoo today for my birthday." Mariko said to Nana as they separated from the hug.

"How about it, guys?" Nana asked Kouta, Hitoshi, and Yuka.

"You won't hear any complaints from me." Kouta replied.

"Me neither." Yuka said happily. She went over to Mariko and crouched down to Mariko's eye level and ruffled the girl's hair. "After all, you're only eight once."

"Count me in too." Hitoshi said happily.

* * *

"I've never been on one of these things before." Mariko said as the group went up in the lift which would get them to the zoo.

"I went on this a couple of times before…" Kouta began but immediately stopped and looked down.

"Kouta?" Yuka asked her cousin but Kouta was going through a huge memory recurrence. By this point, Kouta remembered everything about his sister and Lucy.

"Kouta, are you okay?" Mariko asked concerned for the man who let her and her family stay at the Maple House.

Kouta shook his head and said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

They finally reached the end of the wiring and got off the lift.

Mariko started to head for a couple of the exhibits with Saito, Dr. Kurama, Nana, and Hitoshi coming with her. Mariko got to the first exhibit and excitedly looked on at the elephants and stood at the exhibit for probably thirty minutes admiring the giant creatures. "Mariko, there are several exhibits. How about we come back and see the elephants later?" Dr. Kurama asked as he got down to eye-level with Mariko.

Mariko smiled and said, "Okay daddy." They continued throughout the afternoon and evening just looking at each exhibit. Mariko was completely spellbound by all of the new creatures and both Saito and Dr. Kurama had to get the girl to move to the next exhibit.

Meanwhile…Kouta sat at a bench and looked as though he was lost in thought but he wasn't the only one. Nyu was starting to act weird and seemed distant to Mayu and Yuka. Nyu started to walk in the direction of Dr. Kurama and his family but Yuka noticed this. "Hey Nyu, what's going on?"

"I have to go see Dr. Kurama." Nyu said bluntly and headed towards the group. Yuka and Mayu stared on in disbelief at the attitude change in Nyu but it wasn't Nyu; it was Lucy.

As the group proceeded, Nana, Hitoshi, and Mariko Jumped sensing Lucy's presence. "What's wrong?" Saito asked both her daughters and Hitoshi.

"Lucy," Hitoshi replied as he turned around and saw Lucy approach them. "She has stayed dormant for so long but why now has she come and see us?"

"I don't know but I don't like it." Dr. Kurama replied. He then turned to Saito and said, "Saito get Nana and Mariko to safety."

Saito nodded and picked up Mariko and she and Nana started to speed walk away from the scene. Hitoshi protruded his vectors around him and Dr. Kurama.

Lucy was finally in front of them and said, "How did it feel when I ripped your daughter apart?"

"The same way you felt when you sliced Mayu in half." Dr. Kurama said making Lucy extremely angry. "That only shows the mistakes that we have made. I don't want to fight you anymore."

"We're allies now whether you like it or not." Hitoshi replied. "Still I'm surprised that you have been around these people and haven't killed any of them yet."

"You think I like killing?" Lucy asked angrily.

"Apparently so, although your actions were explainable from eight years ago that doesn't make up for the fact that you nearly killed one of your own kind." Dr. Kurama explained.

"She got in my way. I told her to leave me alone." Lucy retorted.

"And that gave you the right to rip her apart when she couldn't do anything to you!" Dr. Kurama yelled angrily.

Suddenly, Dr. Kurama felt a small body hug him. It was Nana. "Please papa no more fighting. I know you're angry at Lucy for what she did to me but you have to let it go. I'm fine now thanks to Hitoshi." Dr. Kurama wrapped his arms around Nana and started to calm down.

"Nana's right. What happened in the past is over for now. We have a common enemy: Kakuzawa." Hitoshi said to both Dr. Kurama and Lucy. "The three of us will have to forgive each other for our short-comings."

"I'm not doing that." Lucy said angrily.

"Then, Kouta, Yuka, and Mayu will suffer from your arrogance." Hitoshi shot back making Lucy stare on angrily. "It just needs to end otherwise the people we care for truly suffer."

Dr. Kurama lets go of Nana and meets Lucy and said, "I'm sorry for everything. I just want to make sure my family is safe now." Lucy looked awe-struck as she never thought she'd hear those words from Dr. Kurama. Dr. Kurama offered her his hand. "Do you accept my apology and therefore not bring any more harm to my family."

Lucy shook his hand as acceptance and said, "Fine." She then walked back over to Kouta.

Saito re-approached Dr. Kurama and hugged him. "I know it's not easy, but you did the right thing."

Dr. Kurama lets go of Saito and takes Mariko in his arms and said "Later, for now we have a birthday to celebrate."

Lucy approaches Kouta who sat on the bench; she sits next to him. Both waited for someone to speak until Kouta said, "That girl I used to play with when I was a child, the girl we called Nyu, they're both you aren't they?"

"You have to understand. I was born to put an end to human life." Lucy said bluntly. This caught Kouta's attention and the surprised man looked at Lucy in disbelief as she continued, "In five years, just in five years, I can see that there would be more of us born than human infants. But if I succeed in remaking the world you will have to die." Kouta gasped in horror at the aspect of his friend having to kill him. Lucy continued. "Kouta, you, Yuka, and Mayu were like a happy dream in a hellish nightmare. Those days that I spent with you were the only good days I've ever had. I will always cherish them." Tears started to form in Lucy's eyes as she continued. "I always hoped for the day to see you again to tell you how sorry I am. I fought armies to have this chance but it doesn't matter. There's nothing I can say to change anything." Lucy got up and started to walk away.

Suddenly, she got grabbed from behind by Kouta who yelled. "Don't go."

"But Kouta, I killed your family." Lucy replied.

"I can't explain it but I just don't want you to go." Kouta said keeping his grip on her. "There is no way I can forgive you for what you did to Kanae and my dad but I don't want you to leave knowing that you're going to hurt more people. I already regret a lot in my life. Besides I love that lonely little girl I met so many years ago."

"Kouta." Lucy said completely flabbergasted by what she heard. Kouta stopped keeping his grip on Lucy as she turned around and hugged him. Kouta hugged back and the two remained there for a while.

* * *

That night after tucking Mariko in with her new stuffed animal toy, Saito went on the couch and leaned against Dr. Kurama as they watched a romantic comedy. Nana and Hitoshi joined them and enjoyed their evening. Lucy was enjoying an evening staring at the stars from the roof of the house. However Kouta, Yuka, and Mayu were in the dining room with Kouta and Yuka sitting across from Mayu.

"So what did you guys want to talk about?" Mayu asked.

Yuka put a hand on Mayu's and said, "We learned why you left your mother and step-father."

Mayu stared down completely saddened. "I was hoping that I would never have to talk about it. You guys never asked me to tell about my past before, why would things change?" Mayu asked tearfully as she recalled all of the horrible memories.

"Mayu, we just want to help you-" Kouta started.

"If you want to help me then don't talk to me about this!" Mayu exclaimed as she got up. Her face went from anger to shock and remorse and she covered her mouth quickly. "I never yelled before." She put her face in her hands and started to cry. "What is wrong with me?"

Yuka got up and hugged the girl making her sob even more. "Shh…it's okay. You have a lot of anger and sadness built up in you."

"Hey, we're here for you." Kouta replied putting a comforting hand on her back.

Mayu continued in her state of sadness for a while but did eventually calmed down. "Thank you. You both are the best parents I could have ever wished for." Yuka and Kouta looked on shocked by what Mayu said.

"Parents?" They both said in unison.

"Yeah." Mayu explained. "Kouta you're like the dad and Yuka you're like the mom. Nyu is my sister and Hitoshi is my brother who likes my best friend Nana."

"Mayu…" Yuka said sadly.

Kouta only smiled and said, "You remind me so much of Kanae."

Yuka looked at Kouta shocked of what he said. "Kouta?"

Kouta continued solemnly and said, "You, Nana, Mariko, even Nyu, you all remind me of Kanae."

"Who's Kanae?" Mayu asked.

Kouta left the two went over to the pictures and stared at the last one of him and her together. "In the end, it didn't matter. The last thing I ever said to her was so mean. I would die if it meant I could see her again and tell her that I'm sorry." Kouta started to cry. He covered his face and cried in the palm of his hand but then he felt someone hug him. It was Mayu. Yuka also joined the hug and the three cherished the moment of being together.

"I have no idea what it's like to lose a sibling." Yuka said. "But I know if Kanae could see you now, she would be really happy to see whom you have become."

"Thanks Yuka." Kouta said wiping the tears away. He then turned to Mayu. "I guess we both needed to get something off our chests."

Mayu nodded and the three went to watch the movie. Maybe everything was going to be okay for the group.

**5 Days Later**

At the facility, the young researcher, Arakawa, looked at the young Diclonius in front of her. She squatted down and gave Number 22, Akiko, some water. Arakawa having to tilt the cup so that Akiko could drink since Akiko was chained up.

"Thank you, mom." Arakawa heard in her mind. She knew it was Akiko's voice since Akiko was looking up at the woman with a smile.

"You're welcome." Arakawa responded. "Sorry, I smell so horrible; I barely have time for a shower."

"I'm sorry, mom. I'm just wasting your time." Akiko responded telepathically looking down sadly.

"Shh…no you're not sweetie." Arakawa said putting a couple fingers under Akiko's chin and lifting her head. "We'll make this work. I promise." Akiko smiled in response and Arakawa got up. "I have to go now. I love you."

"I love you too." Akiko responded with her telepathy. Arakawa walked out of the containing cell and headed for her office. She and the ten-year-old Diclonius had developed quite the relationship over the past few days. If the Director knew of her talent, it wouldn't be good. She would be used against Lucy and that would only result to Akiko's death. Arakawa has heard the incident with Number 7, Nana, being ripped apart and killed by Lucy and she knew Akiko would fall in the same way. Akiko was too nice, in fact, all of the remaining Diclonius were too nice. Of course, there were only five including Akiko since the facility had pushed the other Diclonius to the breaking point and the results were fatal for them.

Akiko remained in the containing cell thinking that if Arakawa kept doing these late night visits, she would get caught and probably executed. "I can't let that happen." Akiko stated mentally as she extended her gift to find some form of help. She found it on the shore of the closest town, Kamakura. There, Akiko could feel four Diclonius in the same location. Akiko frowned as she knew the only way to get her message across is to give them nightmare. These nightmares being what she sees in one day of the facility.

The four Diclonius soon received the nightmare of the facility with someone in the distance saying help me. Two of the Diclonius, Nana and Mariko, woke up the same way with fear and pain easily traced in their features and silently cried. Another one, Lucy, woke up angry that she was being tormented and left the house in hopes to be out of range of the Diclonius. Finally, Hitoshi awoke in a sweat saying, "That was no ordinary nightmare. It was too real, that was a vision. But how?"

**A/N: Obviously, Arakawa is very different compared to her anime counter-part. She still has the classic running gag of not taking a shower for days but now she has a strong mother/daughter relationship with one of the Diclonius. Additionally, we are coming down the wire. This story will soon end. All good things must come to an end.** **I want to thank everyone for staying with me in this story and I hope you guys are enjoying it.**


	7. The Final Battle Part 1

**A/N: Alright guys, this will be the second to last chapter of **_**I'll Defend You**_**. Let's see what happens.**

**Warning: There will be father/daughter cuddling in the beginning of this chapter. It is not meant to be sexual so don't take it the wrong way.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Elfen Lied**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Saito sat on the couch with Mariko on her lap both covered by a blanket. It was the second time in the same night that Mariko had woken up silently crying. The second time occurred as Saito was checking the girl's bedroom to see if she was okay. Unfortunately, she wasn't so Saito decided to take her out to the living room and calm her down. Saito stroke her daughter's hair in an attempt to get Mariko back to sleep which succeeded several minutes ago.

Nana walked into the living room and sat on the couch. She brought her legs up so knees were up to her chest. She hugged her knees and tears fell down from her eyes.

"Oh no." Saito whispered sympathetically. "Not you too."

Nana nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Dr. Kurama quietly entered the living room and got close to the couch. He noticed that Nana wasn't herself and asked, "What's wrong?"

Nana immediately got off the couch and hugged him crying into his shirt. Although caught off guard, Dr. Kurama hugged her back and said, "Shh…it's alright sweetie. I'm here."

"I think she had the same nightmares as Mariko had." Saito said sadly. "I heard Mariko crying in her room when I went to check on her."

Dr. Kurama got down to Nana's eye-level and asked, "What was your dream about?"

"I-I was back at the facility and I saw a lot of my kind. They were dying, papa." Nana sobbed. She became speechless and wrapped her arms around Dr. Kurama's neck and continued to sob.

Dr. Kurama said nothing and picked Nana up bridal style and headed for the chair that he used where she and he slept during the first night at the Maple House. There, he rubbed her back comfortingly as she sniffled and soon she fell asleep on his lap. Dr. Kurama then grabbed a nearby blanket and wrapped himself and Nana in it.

"Mariko said the same thing." Saito said sadly "What could this mean?"

"I guess we'll find out in the morning." Dr. Kurama said back.

* * *

Morning had finally come in the household and everyone but Lucy sat at the dining table.

"Last night, you both had nightmares." Dr. Kurama said to his daughters and then focused on Kouta. "And Lucy is not here. Is it possible that those three had the same nightmare?"

"Yes." Hitoshi responded, "And all of these nightmare were sent as a message."

"You had the same nightmare?" Dr. Kurama asked surprised. "About being back in the facility?"

"Not a nightmare, a vision of events that have already happened." Hitoshi replied. "We saw these images through the eyes of the sender and she used our emotions to accompany these visions."

Dr. Kurama puts his fingers to his chin in thought in light of the new information. "Wait I don't get it." Mariko said. "If that was a vision from a Diclonius, why couldn't we have blocked it with our vectors?"

"One simple reason, those vision were sent telepathically. That means this Diclonius has the gift for telepathy and she knew the only way out of the facility is by contacting the same people who got out." Hitoshi replied. He then grew serious and turned to Nana and said, "We have to go back."

"I agree." Nana said.

"No, you're not." Dr. Kurama said. "We're not going back. I almost lost my whole family back there." Dr. Kurama adjusted his glasses and continued while looking at Nana, "I'm not going to lose you again."

"Honey, I hate it too, but if the facility finds out about this Diclonius, they'll use her against Lucy." Saito said calmly to Dr. Kurama.

"Could you really let what happen to Nana happen to someone else?" Hitoshi asked.

Dr. Kurama looked down sadly and sighed, "You're right."

"Well hold on, what are you going to do?" Yuka asked concern that her friends would do something risky.

"We still have a helicopter. We can use that to get to and from the island and rescue the remaining Diclonius." Dr. Kurama said.

"You're right and the carrying capacity is quite large for that model." Hitoshi stated happily. "We can get everyone out of there."

"It seems we have our plan. Let's go." Nana jumped up and ran for her room. She was in the hallway and about to walk up the stairs to her room but was stopped by Dr. Kurama holding her arm. "Papa?"

"I will need you to come but you will have to hurt these people. I know that it makes you feel uncomfortable but we don't have many options." Dr. Kurama explained. "Plus, Hitoshi is going to have to kill these people. He can't disable all of them through his hand-to-hand combat alone. There is just too many of them."

"I understand, papa." Nana responded sadly and looked down. Dr. Kurama put his hands on her shoulders comfortingly and smiled at her. Nana returned the smile and said, "Thank you for last night, I know I was a wreck and you being there and holding me, it really helped."

"I'm always here for you sweetie, no matter what." Dr. Kurama replied. "That's what papa's are there for." He continued and explained "We'll leave at around four in the evening. It'll be you, me, and Hitoshi."

"Not exactly." Hitoshi said as he leaned against wall. "I know you're going to hate this but Lucy is going to come with us."

"What? no way!" Dr. Kurama exclaimed. "Do you want those poor girls to be that close to a psycho?"

"I don't like it either but Lucy is strong enough to go on her own and create a distraction while we rescue the remaining Diclonius." Hitoshi said to Dr. Kurama.

After several minutes of thinking of another option, Dr. Kurama nodded knowing that Hitoshi was right.

* * *

That evening, Dr. Kurama put his suit back on and had a bag of clothes for the young girls. Hitoshi was back in his black ops jumper with Nana in another jumper that Hitoshi had from a year ago. Hitoshi, Dr. Kurama, and Nana were heading for the door until they were staring at the other residents. They all went and greeted each other and said their good-byes.

"Be careful." Saito hugged Dr. Kurama.

"I'll try." Dr. Kurama replied hugging Saito back. "If I don't make it, promise me that you'll take care of Nana and Mariko for me." Saito gave a nod as they continued to hug each other.

Mariko hugged Nana tightly and said, "Please come back."

"I will I promise." Nana replied hugging her sister.

Mayu then went up to Nana and hugged her as Mariko walked to Dr. Kurama and hugged him. "You're my best friend. I don't want to lose you."

"You won't." Nana replied hugging her.

"Good luck." Kouta said to Hitoshi while offering his hand for a handshake.

"Nothing to do with luck." Hitoshi replied as he shook Kouta's hand. "Make sure you got those spare rooms ready for the remainder of my kind when we get back."

"We will. You got to come back though." Yuka said as she hugged Hitoshi. Hitoshi returned the hug and they released after a while.

With that, Hitoshi, Dr. Kurama, and Nana headed down the stairs and went to the airport. At the entrance, they heard a somewhat cold voice say, "It took you long enough." The voice was Lucy as she walked out of the shadows and headed toward the three.

"We needed to come up with a plan of attack." Dr. Kurama said.

"We have a plan, attack." Lucy stated bluntly.

Dr. Kurama smiled and nodded at the girl's attitude which was expected and what the plan revolved around.

Under the cover of darkness, the helicopter stealthily approached the landing pad. Two of the guards approached but were quickly decapitated by Lucy. She walked toward the office of Director Kakuzawa. "Where are you going?" Nana asked.

"To finish this." Lucy replied angrily and darted for the building.

Dr. Kurama looked at the two teens and said, "Head for the containing cells."

They both nodded and ran for the cells. Inside, they kept running for the cells. A couple of the guards spotted them and ran for them and started shooting, but their bullets stopped in midair and fell to the ground by Hitoshi's vectors. Nana extended her vectors knocked both guards out. Another guard threw a grenade at the two but Hitoshi used his vectors again to protect them completely. The blast of the grenade did nothing.

The soldier panicked and tried to get his radio but he never did. Hitoshi drew out his gun and shot the soldier in the head.

They advanced toward the containing cells as they go through a hallway. Suddenly, the siren goes off and Hitoshi quickly grabs Nana and gets them both out of sight by hiding in a nearby storage room. "Shit!" One of the soldiers exclaimed. "Lucy's back and she is pissed."

The hallway is soon clear and they both stepped out. "How about that?" Hitoshi said happily. "Our cover isn't blown."

"We better hurry though. They may use the Diclonius to fight Lucy." Nana said.

"Good point." Hitoshi said as they continued to the cells. The two teens finally reached the door and opened it. There were two scientist standing near the controls and started to fire. However, Hitoshi used his vectors and stopped the bullets. Nana then unleashed her vector pushed them through the window knocking them out.

The two proceeded into the cells through the shattered window and started to hear clapping. "I don't like the sound of that." Hitoshi stated bluntly.

"Well done, well done, yet so unusual for Diclonius to not slice those men to bits." A taunting male voice could be heard. "You two are intriguing." The man revealed himself to be another scientist but was holding an object in both hands, switches. "Now, it is about time that we use these creatures to our advantage." He said as two Diclonius of the same age came out of the shadows. "Number 33 and 34 engage.

"Yes sir." Both of the Diclonius said as they shot out their vectors.

Hitoshi got into a defensive stance and was able to block the vectors with his but not without straining himself. "Nana, you have to cut off his hand."

The scientist laughed maniacally at this and said, "Number 7 has always had one weakness which plagues most of your species. She's too nice."

"Nana, I can't do this for much longer." Hitoshi said to Nana.

"Alright finish him now." The scientist said.

"But we were only supposed to subdue him." One of the Diclonius responded.

"I said to finish him or do you want your sister get blown apart." The scientist asked enraged. The Diclonius shook her head. "Good now-Ahhhh!" Suddenly, both of the scientist's arms were sliced off; he fell to the ground and struggled to breath from both shock of losing his arms and blood loss until he slumped to the ground not breathing anymore. The Diclonius twins stopped their attack and Hitoshi looked over to Nana who had tears in her eyes.

"I…I'm a bad person. Papa told me to never kill people. I-" Nana started to shake and she was hyperventilating.

Hitoshi grabbed her arms and said, "Nana, just look at me. Just breathe, in and out, slowly. You're not a bad person." Nana finally managed to get her breathing in control and she stared into Hitoshi's eyes longingly.

"Um…excuse me." One of the twins said as she approach the two. "Please, we need help."

"Oh right, that scientist has you hooked up to bombs?" Hitoshi exclaimed.

"Yeah, if one of didn't do our objective he would blow the other up." The other twin stated.

"Where's the bomb?" Nana asked eyeing both of the girls up and down.

"Near our hearts." The girl responded.

"What are we going to do?" Nana asked frightened.

Hitoshi breathed in and out and said, "There is only one thing we can do. I'm going to make them intangible and you're going to reach inside of them and pull out the bombs. One at a time."

Nana nodded her head and Hitoshi got down on his knees and put his hand toward the direction of one of the twins. He then concentrated and started to breathe heavily. Nana took that as her cue and she put her hand into the girl's chest. Nana's hand went through completely and all three of the girls were surprised but Nana kept going until she felt something metallic. She pulled it out and dropped it onto the ground. It was the bomb. Hitoshi stopped and took deep breathes.

"You okay." Nana asked as she squatted down to his level. He looked up and Nana's eye widened. He was bleeding from his nose. "You're hurt."

"Don't worry about me." Hitoshi said breathing heavily. "Let's get that other bomb out."

The other twin stepped forward and they repeated the process. This time Hitoshi was breathing more heavily and his other nostril was bleeding. He wiped his nose with his jumper and got up. He smiled at the two and said, "My name is Hitoshi; this is Nana."

"Hi, I'm Haru and this is Mizuki." The twin that first talked to the two said as she pointed out her sister. "I'm sorry we attacked you earlier."

"Don't worry about it, you had no other choice." Hitoshi said.

"Are there any others?" Nana asked.

"Yeah, Atsuko and Emiko are in their containing cells. The facility thought they would be useless to use in a fight since they're too young." Haru said pointing to two occupied cells.

"Wait a minute, aren't there more of you?" Nana asked.

"There were but the bad people killed a lot of us through testing." Haru replied.

Hitoshi puts his fingers to his chin in thought and said. "This doesn't add up. As strong as these girls are, none of them could have contacted us." Nana nodded in agreement.

"Contacted?" Mizuki exclaimed. "Wait a minute, you must mean Akiko. She's mute but she can talk to us with her voice somehow."

Both of the teen's eyes widened and they smiled. "Akiko must be the one who contacted us via telepathy." Nana said happily.

"It seems the way." Hitoshi said happily. He then turned to Haru and Mizuki. "Do you know where they have Akiko?"

"Yeah. I overheard the bad people talking about testing her in Room 27-A." Haru said.

"Basement level." Hitoshi replied bluntly.

Meanwhile, Nana went to the control and hit the switch to release the other two Diclonius. Both walked out with their metal helmets on and tried to see where they were going. Nana stopped the younger looking Diclonius who seemed three and Haru stopped the older one who seemed to be five. Haru and Nana both removed the helmets with their vectors.

"Haru!" The five year old Diclonius exclaimed as she hugged Haru. "I thought they would have killed you."

"We caught a break." Haru said. "These people are going to help us." Haru indicated to Hitoshi and Nana who had finished unwrapping the cloth around the three year old Diclonius' head.

"Who are you?" The three year old asked Nana.

Mizuki approached and said, "Emiko, this is Nana and that's her friend, Hitoshi. They're here to help us."

Hitoshi went over to Nana and said, "I'm going to go and find Akiko and take her back to the chopper. I need you to take these girls to your Papa while I'm doing that."

Nana stood up and did not respond to Hitoshi for a second. "Hey what's wrong?" Hitoshi asked. Suddenly, Nana kissed him and said, "That's for good luck." Hitoshi smiled and started to run for the stairs to the basement.

"Aww…you like him." Mizuki said happily.

Nana smiled and said, "Of course, he saved my life after all." She then picked Emiko up and said, "Come on. The helicopter is this way." She then led the group of girls toward the helicopter.

Meanwhile…Lucy had decapitated another soldier and stood outside Director Kakuzawa's door and said, "Let's finish this." She then enters the door…To be continued.

**A/N: Haha, got you guys with a cliffhanger. No worries though, this will be the last cliffhanger since the next chapter is the last chapter.**


	8. The Final Battle Part 2

**A/N: Here it is the last chapter. Everything will come to an end in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Elfen Lied**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

"Let's finish this." Lucy said with ferocity in her voice. She entered the room and stared angrily at the figure in the room. He is strong and intimidating to most but Lucy could care less. "So here it will end." Lucy said as she stepped towards the man, Director Kakuzawa.

Kakuzawa chuckled and said, "No doubt that Lucy has returned but you still can't beat me."

"Want to bet?" Lucy said ginning and she sent out her vectors to attack him. But he then sent out his vectors and blocked her attack. "What?" Lucy said shocked that Kakuzawa was able to even have vectors.

Kakuzawa laughed evilly and said, "I come from a line of pure bred Diclonius. My vectors are more powerful than even yours. Here, I'll show you." Kakuzawa sent out his vectors and hit Lucy. She flew across the room and hits the wall leaving a dent in the wall. Kakuzawa laughed again as Lucy tried to catch her breathe. "Oh sorry did that hurt?" He then shot out his vectors and tried to kill her but they only punched through the wall.

Lucy evaded getting hit and said, "I'm going to kill you now."

Kakuzawa laughed and said, "Oh, I'm going to have fun with you."

* * *

Another lead ball hits the wall but barely misses the young Diclonius girl who is now in tears from the constant pressure tests. "Increase it to 550 psi." The new lead scientist said.

"That would kill her." Arakawa said sadly.

"We need her to be ready to fight Lucy; she is the only one who can fight Lucy." The lead scientist retorted. He then directed his attention to the scientist at the controls and said "Increase it."

"Yes sir." The scientist responded and pushed the lever up to 550 psi.

"Hold on." Arakawa said as she went into the pressure testing room. She ignored the angry protests of the lead scientist and went to Akiko. "Sweetie, you still there?" Arakawa asked as she got down to Akiko's eye-level.

Akiko looked at Arakawa with tears rolling down her face and started to speak telepathically, "Mom, I can't keep going. It hurts too much; make them stop." Her telepathic voice started to crack.

Arakawa tearfully replied, "I know. Akiko, I love you, never forget that."

Akiko nodded and replied, "I love you mommy." Arakawa put her hand to Akiko's face comfortingly which soothed Akiko and after a while Arakawa got up. Arakawa then walked back to the control room.

"Next time you interrupt our research Dr. Arakawa, I'll let the soldiers shoot you." The lead scientist said harshly. Arakawa said nothing and looked down sadly.

"550 psi initiating now." The scientist at the controls said and pressed the button but nothing happened.

"What's going on?" The lead scientist asked worriedly.

"I don't know sir. Nothing is working." The scientist replied.

Suddenly the door opened and all eyes were on a young boy armed with a katana and 8 mm handgun. "You should seriously think about keeping that transformer in here." Hitoshi said with a mischievous smile.

"Quick fire!" The lead scientist exclaimed. Everyone fired but Arakawa and the lead scientist. Hitoshi reacted using his katana to cut down the soldiers and then fired at the scientists, while using his vectors to stop any bullets coming at him. Meanwhile, the lead scientist went into the testing room and released Akiko and raised his gun at her and made her walk only a couple of centimeters from the barrel of his gun. The scientists and soldiers were dead in a short period of time except for one scientist.

Hitoshi stared over at Arakawa with an intriguing look on his face. "Why haven't you shot at me yet?"

"Akiko, please you need to help her." Arakawa said.

"Alright, where is she?" Hitoshi asked.

"Right here." The lead scientist said holding a gun to a young Diclonius girl who had tears rolling down her face. "Drop your weapons." The lead scientist said to Hitoshi. "Or she dies."

Hitoshi sighs angrily and throws his katana on the ground then his gun. The lead scientist chuckled, "Good."

Hitoshi inched closer until the man took the safety off of his gun. "Please, don't do this. Don't hurt her." Hitoshi said trying to compromise with the man.

The lead scientist smiled evilly and fired at Akiko. Akiko stood there with her eyes closed in preparation for the bullet that never came. She turned around and saw that the bullet was suspended in midair. It fell to the ground and the lead scientist looked surprised and angry. "Thanks for letting me get close enough to use my vectors to protect Akiko." Hitoshi said. The lead scientist started to fire more but Hitoshi's vectors blocked all of his shots. "Akiko get down!" Hitoshi exclaimed. She did as he said, and he grabbed his katana and threw it at the lead scientist slicing him in half diagonally.

Arakawa ran over to Akiko and hugged the girl. A moment of relief passed by everyone until Hitoshi felt a powerful Diclonius, Director Kakuzawa. "Come on, I'll take you both to the helicopter that we're going to use to get out of here." The two nodded and followed him as they ran to the landing pad.

* * *

Meanwhile…Nana had managed to get the girls to the helicopter and Dr. Kurama was now helping them into some of the clothes that he brought for the trip. Suddenly, Nana felt a powerful Diclonius. She started to sprint toward the same direction that Lucy took until Dr. Kurama noticed her and yelled, "Nana, where are you going?"

"I have to help Lucy; she's in trouble." Nana replied as she turned around to address her father.

"No it's too dangerous!" Dr. Kurama yelled back but it was too late. Nana had ran into the building.

"Dr. Kurama!" Hitoshi yelled as he ran toward the helicopter with Arakawa and Akiko following him.

"Hitoshi!" Dr. Kurama yelled. "Go help Nana! She went to help Lucy!" Hitoshi nodded and ran for the building while Arakawa and Akiko were given a warm reception by Dr. Kurama and the Diclonius.

Nana reached the office and saw that most of the furniture was overturned and smashed and saw Lucy struggling to get up as Kakuzawa grabbed a nearby desk with his vectors and he said, "It seems you weren't as strong as you thought you were." He threw down the desk but Nana protruded her vectors and grabbed Lucy at the last second.

Nana managed to get Lucy back to where she was and she squatted down. "Are you alright?" Nana asked.

"Look…out." Lucy stated. Nana looked up and saw Kakuzawa's vectors coming at her. She was able to defend herself with her vectors but barely. It required too much work.

Kakuzawa laughed maniacally and said, "If Lucy couldn't beat me, what makes you think you can."

Nana ran toward the man all the while evading his vectors and the furniture that he threw around with his vectors. She finally got close to him but he brought his hand out and slammed her into the ground while using his hand to choke her. "You know I wonder how it felt to get ripped apart by Lucy."

"Shut up." Nana spat.

Kakuzawa brought one of his vectors close to Nana's throat, "Don't worry, I'll finish it quickly by slicing your head off, first. No torturing."

"No, no, please don't." Nana begged. He was about to strike when suddenly a bullet hit him in the shoulder. Completely caught off guard, Kakuzawa grunted in pain and looked up angrily at who had managed to shoot him

It was Hitoshi; he charged at the man with his katana but it proved fruitless as Kakuzawa dodged his slash and picked him up and threw him. Hitoshi hit a completely destroyed couch and he grunted in pain as he tried to get up.

Suddenly two vectors hit Kakuzawa and he was sent flying out the window. The two teens got up and looked over to Lucy who was the one to send Kakuzawa flying.

"Alright we won." Nana huffed.

"Not quite." Lucy said. "I can still feel him; he's coming back."

"You have a plan to beat this guy or something?" Hitoshi asked.

Lucy smiled indicating that she did.

A few minutes later, Kakuzawa used his vectors to get back into the room. He looked over to Hitoshi and jumped up. He came down with full force with his vectors but Hitoshi's vectors blocked his attack. However, Hitoshi struggled with the immense power.

"Impressive, few can survive my attack let alone block it." Kakuzawa stated.

"All part of the plan." Hitoshi stated. "Nana now!"

Nana appeared several feet behind Kakuzawa and used her vectors to pull back Kakuzawa's. He was now defenseless. He yelled in pain as Nana kept pulling on his vectors and taking advantage of her vector's length. "Lucy, I can't keep this up! Take him out!"

Lucy came out of the corner shot her vectors at Kakuzawa slicing him in half. Nana was finally able to contract her vectors since Kakuzawa was in too much pain to use his. The three looked at Kakuzawa as he struggled to breathe. "So this is how it ends." Kakuzawa said coughing up blood. "Killed by two bitches and a bastard."

"I told you I was going to kill you." Lucy said coldly as she brought her vector out. Knowing what was going to happen next, Nana hugged Hitoshi to avoid seeing Lucy slice Kakuzawa's head off.

"Go, both of you." Lucy said to the teens while looking at the ground sadly, "Go live with Kouta in that house. I want you two to do what I can't do, as much as I wish I could."

Nana lets go of Hitoshi and replied, "Lucy?" Lucy ignores her and starts to walk away.

"Hold on, for the longest time you and I have had an alliance of convenience against Kakuzawa." Hitoshi said while he grabbed his katana. "Now that Kakuzawa is gone, you are the last person that I need to kill."

Lucy glared at Hitoshi and got into a fighting stance.

"No stop it, both of you!" Nana exclaimed. "You're friends remember?"

"No, I can never forgive her for what she did to you." Hitoshi said angrily.

"It wasn't her fault!" Nana exclaimed. She looked down to the ground with her fists clenched and said, "It was my fault."

"Nana." Hitoshi said lowering his sword. Even, Lucy was caught off guard and the two stared at the girl.

"I tried to take her back to this place and maybe she did went a little too far but you can't blame her. We would have followed her and killed her friends, our friends. You and I would have been tested heavily here and Kakuzawa would have won in the end." Nana then looked at them both and said, "If you both like me, you won't fight, not anymore."

Hitoshi sighed and said, "Maybe I should listen to my own advice. All I will do is hurt everyone I care for because of this vendetta." He took his gun and threw it on the ground. "I'm done."

"What about your katana." Lucy asked.

"Actually, I like this thing. I'm keeping it." Hitoshi said happily. He then grew serious and said, "There is one favor that I need you to do for everyone. I need you to destroy this place, blow it up. That way we don't have another Kakuzawa in the future. There are bombs located throughout this facility in case the government was to find it."

"You better get going." Lucy said with a smile as confirmation that she will destroy the institute.

They nodded and ran for the helicopter. They managed to reach the helicopter as it started to take off. It was over; they were all heading home. In the distance, they could hear explosions from the bombs that were planted all over the facility.

Dr. Kurama sighed and asked, "Do you think she made it?"

Hitoshi simply replied, "She's Lucy, sir; I'd be surprised if she didn't." He wasn't sure why but Dr. Kurama smiled whether it be for the nightmare facility never torturing or killing another Diclonius ever again or if it was that Lucy was still alive.

**6 Months Later**

Kouta was on the ground looking at the shell that Nyu got for him while he listened to the music box that carried so many memories. Yuka, Dr. Kurama, and Saito were finishing getting the feast ready for the residents of the Maple House. Hitoshi was looking at the sky from the roof with Akiko and Nana accompanying him. Arakawa was finishing taking a shower after a long day at work. Emiko, Haru, Mizuki, and Atsuko were playing tag in the yard. And Mayu and Mariko were back from their walk with Wanta and were tying the dog back to his doghouse to prevent the dog from going anywhere.

"There, finished." Yuka said as the last dish was put on the table.

Dr. Kurama chuckled and said, "Ironic don't you think? This place used to be a restaurant and now it is again."

"Yes and we even have our own regulars." Satio said happily as she went toward the door. "I'll go get the kids to come in."

"Kids dinner!" Saito yelled. They all started to walk in and she said, "Now make sure you wash your hands."

Emiko and Atsuko responded with okay and headed for the sink while Haru, Mizuki, and Mariko were already heading for that direction.

After several minutes, everyone took their seats and were about to eat when suddenly there was a knock at the gate and Wanta started to bark which indicated that someone was at the gate. "I wonder who that could be." Kouta said as he walked to the door.

"We'll wait for you." Dr. Kurama said. Another series of knocks could be heard as Kouta approached the door but before he could reach it the 'dormant' clock rung as it hits 5 pm. The gate opens and reveals the figure to be Kadae. Kouta opens the door and sees her. "Kadae." He said as he ran to her.

"Kouta." Kadae said as she ran to him and they met midway for a friendly hug.

"You're just in time." Kouta said. "We were about to eat. Come and join us and I will not take 'no' for an answer."

Kadae smiled and said, "Okay." They then head inside closing the door behind them.

**A/N: And that is it everyone. Thanks for letting me torture you all with this novel; I hope you all enjoyed it. And this will probably be the only **_**Elfen Lied**_** novel I'll do. So, y'all have a good one. Later!**


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